European Exploration
of the New World
Grade 5 – Unit 2
Unit Overview
In this unit, students will learn about the explorations of prominent European explorers and how their
journeys affected and shaped the world. In the previous unit, students learned about some of the first
groups living and thriving in Central and South America: the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas. In addition, they
were exposed to how European exploration impacted these three groups in negative ways. This next unit
builds on that knowledge and further introduces students to the specific motivations, impacts and
consequences of the vast exploration done by Europeans during the 14th and 15th centuries.
Standards
5.3 Explain why trade routes to Asia had been closed in the 15th century and trace the voyages of at
least four of the explorers listed below. Describe what each explorer sought when he began his journey,
what he found, and how his discoveries changed the image of the world, especially the maps used by
explorers. (H, G, E)
A. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
B. John and Sebastian Cabot
C. Jacques Cartier
D. Samuel de Champlain
E. Christopher Columbus
F. Henry Hudson
G. Ferdinand Magellan
H. Juan Ponce de Leon
I. Amerigo Vespucci
Essential Questions
What motivated the Europeans to explore unknown places?
Why did the European explorers want to claim things as their own?
What impact did the European explorers have on the New World land, resources and people?
• How does exploration change people’s understanding and knowledge?
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Learning Objectives
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Students will be able to explain why trade routes to Asia closed in the 15th century.
Students will be able to explain why Europeans began exploring new regions of the world.
Students will be able to describe the voyages of four prominent explorers.
Students will be able to describe the explorers’ motives for their journeys.
Students will be able to describe what explorers did and found on their voyages.
Students will be able to explain the impact of the each explorer’s voyage.
Students will be able to explain how each explorer’s voyage changed the image of the world and
the maps used by future explorers.
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Interactive Student Notebook
The lessons in this unit are designed for the Interactive Student Notebook (ISN). Students do all of their
social studies work throughout the year in the ISN, which serves as an artifact of student learning. The
ISN follows a very specific format:
left side
Preview Question
right side
Activity
Processing Activity
This is a representation of the ISN. Each lesson begins with a Preview activity, which builds background
knowledge, taps into prior knowledge, reviews the previous lesson, or introduces vocabulary. This is
always at the top of the left-hand page. Next, the mini-lesson is taught. The content from the lesson is
recorded on the Notes page, which is always the right-hand page. Finally, the lesson ends with a
Processing activity, which asks students to apply the content and skills from the lesson and show
mastery of the day’s objective. This is always at the bottom of the left-hand page. Thus, the flow of the
ISN is top left- right - bottom left.
Lessons
The lessons for the unit were designed around an essential question and topic to build towards a
cumulative understanding of the overall concept. The structure of the lessons is as follows: preview,
mini-lesson, processing activity, extension. The preview is a warm-up to activate or build background
knowledge; the mini-lesson is the explicit teaching time through modeling; the processing activity is the
time for students to process the information taught and illustrate their understanding via the notebook or
another form of communication; the extension is an activity that extends the students’ learning with an
additional activity to be done for home-work or as a follow-up activity in class (can also be an
opportunity for the students to extend their learning in a culminating task such as a research report,
explanation, etc.). Lessons were designed with a 45-60 minute timeframe in mind but in some cases
span the course of more than a day (as indicated). Extension activities for the most part were intended to
take place outside of this timeframe.
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Unit Overview
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Timeline: 2 days
Timeline: 1 day
Timeline: 2 days
Timeline: 1 day
Topic: Why Europeans
began exploring
Vocabulary:
exploration/explorer,
New World, claim,
symbol, convert, wealth,
glory, valuable, Silk
Road, motives, impact
Preview: Show students
lesson images. Ask
students to discuss
questions in groups: 1)
What are these images?
2) How do they connect
to exploration?
Activity: Shared reading
of text. Students use map
and text to understand
why explorers started
looking for new routes to
Asia.
Processing Activity:
Students glue images
(above) into their
notebooks and record
how the image was both a
motivation to explore and
an impact of exploration.
Resources:
-Lesson Images:
Exploration
-Lesson Images: Map of
Silk Road
-Social Studies Alive, p.
45, p. 48-50, p. 52-55
-A History of US, Chapter
14, pp. 69-71
Topic: Christopher
Columbus: Personal
background and motives
Topic: Christopher
Columbus: Explorations
and impacts
Topic: John Cabot:
Personal background and
motives
Vocabulary: East Indies,
conquistador, voyage,
sponsor, trade, motives,
route, colony
Vocabulary: impact,
contagious disease, cash
crop, settlers, encounter
Vocabulary: merchant,
navigator/navigate,
shipwreck, historians,
wealth, route, voyage
Preview: Ask students to
fill in two column chart
about Columbus: What
you know and What you
think you know
Activity: Shared reading
and discussion of text:
Who and what motivated
Columbus to explore?
Students work with
partner to fill in sections
on their reading notes:
personal background,
sponsor, and motives.
Processing Activity: In
their notebook, students
answer the following
question: What motivated
Columbus to explore?
Resources:
-Social Studies Alive, p.
58
-A History of Us, Chapter
15, pp. 72-76
-Reading Notes
Preview: Students sort
sentences from text onto
T-chart: positive vs.
negative descriptions of
Columbus. Students
weigh evidence.
Activity: Students finish
reading pp. 58-59 in text
and discuss positive
description of Columbus.
Teacher reads aloud
Encounter and leads
students in discussion of
text: How does this point
of view differ from the
textbook? Why? Students
fill in sections on their
reading notes: dates,
route of exploration,
impact.
Preview: Project lesson
image and record student
observations.
Activity: Students read p.
60 in partners,
underlining key ideas
about Cabot’s personal
background, motives for
exploring, and sponsor.
Students work with
partner to fill in sections
on their reading notes:
personal background,
sponsor, and motives.
Then students create
Venn Diagram to
compare Cabot to
Columbus.
Processing Activity:
Students write short
paragraph in response to
question: Should
Columbus have a
national holiday?
Processing Activity:
In their notebook,
students answer the
following question: How
were Columbus and
Cabot’s motivations to
explore different?
Resources:
-Social Studies Alive, pp.
58-59
-A History of Us,
Chapters 16 and 17, pp.
77-86
-Encounter
-Reading Notes
Resources:
-Lesson image: John
Cabot on ship
-Social Studies Alive, p.
60
-Venn diagram
-Reading Notes
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Lesson 5
Lesson 6
Lesson 7
Lesson 8
Timeline: 1 day
Timeline: 1 day
Timeline: 1 day
Timeline: 1 day
Topic: John Cabot:
Explorations and impacts
Vocabulary: presentday, merchant,
opportunity, brave,
navigator/navigate,
shipwreck, historians,
wealth, route, voyage
Preview: Project map of
North America have
students identify and
trace Cabot’s route of
exploration.
Activity: Students reread
p. 60 and read paragraph
in A History of Us.
Students work in small
groups to fill out cause
and effect chart to think
about impacts of Cabot’s
trip. Students fill in
sections on their
explorers chart: dates,
route of exploration,
impact.
Processing Activity:
In their notebook,
students complete the
following sentences: 1)
John Cabot’s trip…
2) Because of John
Cabot’s voyage…
Resources:
-Lesson image: Map of
North America
-Social Studies Alive, p.
60
-Cause and effect chart
-Reading Notes
-A History of Us, pp. 88
Topic: Juan Ponce de
Leon: Personal
background and motives
Topic: Juan Ponce de
Leon: Explorations and
impacts
Vocabulary: conquer,
governor, surpass,
commissioned,
kingdoms, El Dorado
Vocabulary: conquer,
governor, surpass,
commissioned,
kingdoms, El Dorado
Preview: Students
examine map from 1555
(p. 61) and present-day
map to make prediction
about where Ponce de
Leon explored.
Preview: Show students
image cards of Pizarro
and Cortes. Have
students record what they
remember about these
explorers.
Activity: Shared reading
from A History of Us.
Introduce “El Dorado” or
“fountain of youth”.
Highlight text to identify
Ponce de Leon’s
motivations for exploring
and discuss. Students
work with partner to fill
in sections on their
explorers chart: personal
background, sponsor, and
motives.
Activity: Teach concepts
“conquer” and
“conquistador”. Make
connections to PreColumbian civilizations
unit (Pizarro and Cortez).
Have students reread pp.
113-114 and highlight
text to identify impacts/
evidence of Ponce de
Leon conquering people
and discuss. Students fill
in sections on their
explorers chart: dates,
route of exploration,
impact.
Processing Activity:
Write the following
words on the board:
fountain of youth and
Florida. Have students
write words and then
explain how the words
connect to Ponce de Leon
in their notebook.
Resources:
-Image: Map of southern
North America, 1555
-Social Studies Alive, p.
61
-Reading Notes
-A History of US, Chapter
Topic: Henry Hudson
Vocabulary: rebel,
waterway, strait, afloat,
harbor, Northwest
Passage
Preview: Show students
map of Hudson’s voyages
and areas settled with
land claimed by England
and Holland. Ask
students to discuss how
he can claim land for two
countries.
Activity: Students work
with a partner to read p.
64. As they read, students
highlight key information
to use later to fill in
explorers chart. Students
make T-chart of his two
voyages. Students work
with partner to fill in
Hudson section on their
explorers chart.
Processing Activity:
In their notebook,
students answer the
following question: How
was Ponce de Leon a
conquistador?
Processing Activity:
In their notebook,
students draw a comic to
show why Hudson is
important using at least 3
of the following terms or
words: Northwest
Passage, voyage,
England, Holland, harbor,
strait, North America,
Hudson
Resources:
-Lesson images: Pizarro
and Cortes
-Social Studies Alive, p.
61
-Reading Notes
-A History of US, Chapter
Resources:
-Lesson images: Maps of
Hudson’s voyages and
settlements
-T-chart
-Social Studies Alive, p.
65
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23, pp. 113-114
23, pp. 113-114
-Reading Notes
Lesson 9
Timeline: 2 days
Topic: Impact of
European exploration:
Culminating writing task
Vocabulary:
explanation, impact
Preview: Use images
from lesson 1 and have
students work with
partner to orally review
different impacts of
European exploration.
Activity: Post essential
questions on chart paper
around the room.
Students rotate in groups
between each poster
(carousel activity) and
add ideas to each poster.
Students then choose one
impact of exploration and
brainstorm evidence to
support their idea using
graphic organizer.
Processing Activity:
Students independently
write an explanation
answering the question:
What is one way that
exploration impacted the
world?
Resources:
-Lesson 1 images:
Exploration
-Graphic organizer
-Social Studies Alive
-Reading Notes
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Supplemental Resources
Books
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A History of Us: The First Americans (Book 1) by Joy Hakim
Encounter by Jane Yolen
Websites
New York Public Library: Christopher Columbus and Early European Exploration
http://www.nypl.org/node/5626 Explorers Maps, Activities, and Biographies for Kids (Interactive Website)
http://mrnussbaum.com/explorersflash/
Exploration of North America (Interactive Map)
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/books/applications/imaps/maps/g5s_u2/
Field Experiences
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Exhibit: Travel and Transformation in the Early Seventeenth Century at The Peabody Museum,
Harvard University (admission $7 with group rate) https://peabody.harvard.edu/node/572
Exhibit: Encounters with the Americas at The Peabody Museum, Harvard University (admission
$7 per student with group rate) https://peabody.harvard.edu/exhibits/current?q=node/286
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Lesson 1 – Why Europeans Began Exploring
Essential Question: What motivates people to explore unknown places?
Lesson Objective/s
l
Students will be able to explain why trade routes to Asia closed in the 15th century.
l
Students will be able to explain why Europeans began exploring new areas.
Standard/s: 5.3 Explain why trade routes to Asia had been closed in the 15th century.
Vocabulary: exploration/explorer, New World, claim, symbol, convert, wealth, glory, valuable, Silk
Road, motives, impact
Preview: Pass out a copy of the lesson images to each student. Have the preview questions posted or
projected so all students can see them. Have the lesson images blown up larger and put each one on a
small piece of chart paper.
1) What are these images?
2) How do they connect to exploration?
As a whole class, clearly identify the objects in all six images. Then, have students discuss question two
in small groups of three. As students discuss, each student from the group should be responsible for
recording the group’s ideas onto a post-it for two of the images. Give students five minutes to discuss
and then come back together as a group to share. As students share, have students add their posters to
the chart with the applicable image.
Mini-lesson: Show students a map of the Silk Road. Tell students that up until this time, people used
this road to travel to Asia to buy and sell goods. Ask students what they think or notice about this route
(goes through mountains, very long, water could be shorter, travels through many countries, etc.). Pass
out copy of Chapter 14 (pp. 69-71) and tell students that as you read together today they should be
thinking about why explorers stopped using that route and started to look for other ways to get to Asia.
Read aloud Chapter 14 as students follow along. Discuss information after reading and chart key ideas
students identify.
Processing Activity: Students cut out and glue lesson images into their notebook. Under each image
students write a sentence two about the image and how it was a motivation of exploration. Some
students may be able to identify how it also served as an impact.
Extension: If students finish early, they can do further reading with a partner from the Social Studies
Alive textbook (pp. 52-55).
Resources
-Lesson Images: Exploration
-Lesson Images: Map of Silk Road
-Social Studies Alive p. 45, pp. 48-50, pp. 52-55
-A History of Us, Chapter 14, pp. 69-71
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Lesson 1 Images: Exploration
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Lesson 1 Image: Map of Silk Road
Lesson 2 and 3 Student Text
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Social Studies Alive! America’s Past
Chapter 5: Routes of Exploration to the New World
Textbook Pgs. 58-59
Christopher Columbus was born in 1451 in Genoa, a busy seaport on
the coast of Italy. As a child, he read about the travels of Marco Polo. In the
late 1200s, Polo had journeyed to Asia by land and sea. He brought back
stories of the riches and customs of China and the East Indies. Columbus
wanted to see these faraway lands.
When Columbus was about 14, he became a sailor. He traveled south
along the coast of Africa and north to Ireland. He may have gone to
Iceland. Viking sailors from Norway had already explored Greenland and
the eastern Canadian shores. But Columbus and others did not know about
these voyages.
Nations in Europe wanted to find better trade routes to obtain the spices
and silks of Asia. The Portuguese tried to reach Asia by sailing around the
southern tip of Africa. However, in the 1400s, people knew less about the
geography of the world than is known today. Columbus believed that Earth
was much smaller than it is and that it had only one ocean. He thought he
could reach Asia faster by sailing west across the Atlantic.
Columbus asked the king of Portugal to pay for his trip. The king turned
him down. His advisers thought that the route around Africa was
shorter. Finally, after almost 13 years, Columbus convinced Queen Isabella
and King Ferdinand of Spain to help him.They gave him three small ships
and about 90 men.Columbus promised to return with riches for Spain.
On August 3, 1492, Columbus left Spain with his three ships—the Niña,
the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. They sailed southwest past the Canary
Islands and then west across the Atlantic Ocean. Early on October 12, a
sailor saw an island with white beaches and dense green forests.
Columbus named the island San Salvador, which means “Holy Savior” in
Spanish. He claimed it for Spain. Friendly people greeted him. These
people had lived in the Americas for thousands of years. Columbus called
them Indians, because he thought that he had reached the East Indies.
Some of them guided him to the island of Cuba. There, he found people
wearing gold ornaments and pearls, similar to those worn by the people of
San Salvador.
For three months, Columbus searched for gold and spices. In 1493,
he sailed back to Spain, with a few gold ornaments and American Indian
captives. The queen and king agreed to pay for more voyages. Columbus
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promised to bring them “as much gold as they need . . . and as many slaves
as they ask.”
Columbus made three more trips. He explored more islands near
Cuba and the coasts of Central and South America. But he found little
gold. When he died in 1506, he still did not know that he had reached the
New World.
However, his trips opened up a trade route that changed the history of
the world. Later, Spanish explorers did find gold. They also found the
perfect climate for growing crops such as sugarcane. To get enough crops
and minerals to trade with Europe, early Spanish settlers forced American
Indians to work in fields and mines.
Soon, Europeans had colonies in the New World. Trade between
Europe and the New World grew. Animals and crops from one side of the
Atlantic were introduced to the other side. Sailors also brought ideas from
one land to another. Even diseases crossed the ocean. Today, we call this
flow of goods and ideas between the Americas and Europe the Columbian
Exchange, in honor of Columbus—the man who started it all.
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Lesson 2 and 3 Resource: Christopher Columbus Reading Notes
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Lesson 4 Image: John Cabot
Lesson 4 and 5 Student Text
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Social Studies Alive! America’s Past
Chapter 5: Routes of Exploration to the New World
Textbook Pg.60
The opportunity for new trade interested many explorers in addition to
Columbus. Giovanni Caboto, later called John Cabot, was a young
merchant, or shopkeeper, in Venice, Italy. He was also a skilled navigator
who wanted to explore the world. He had seen the spices and silks that
traders brought from Asia. He wanted to take part in this trade. Like
Columbus, he thought the best way to get to Asia was to sail west.
In 1496, some merchants in England agreed to pay for his voyage. King
Henry VII gave Cabot permission to explore any “unknown land.” Cabot set
out to find a faster and safer route to the East Indies. He left Bristol,
England, in May 1497. He had only one small ship and 17 men. They
traveled around the coast of Ireland and then west across the Atlantic. They
sailed north of Columbus’s route to avoid land claimed by Spain.
On June 24, Cabot reached the eastern coast of present-day
Canada. He claimed the land for England. He saw thick green forests and
plenty of fish but no rich Asian cities. Cabot sailed back to England. He told
the king that he had reached Asia and would soon find its wealth.
The following year, Cabot sailed back to North America. On this try, he
may have explored as far south as Chesapeake Bay, near present-day
Maryland. Historians do not know what happened to Cabot; some say he
was killed in a shipwreck, others that he returned to England and died soon
after arriving.
Like Columbus, Cabot never knew that he had reached a continent
unknown to Europeans. But his voyage opened the way for English settlers
to North America.
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Lesson 4 Resource: John Cabot Reading Notes
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Lesson 4 Resource: Venn Diagram
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Lesson 5 Image: Map of North America
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Lesson 5 Resource: Cause and Effect Chart
Cause
Effect
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Lesson 6 Image: Map of Southern North America, 1555
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Lesson 6 and 7 Student Text
Social Studies Alive! America’s Past
Chapter 5: Routes of Exploration to the New World
Textbook Pg.61
When Columbus made a second voyage to the Americas in 1493, a
young soldier named Juan Ponce de León (wahn pahnss duh lee-OHN)
went with him. Once Ponce de León arrived in the New World, he settled on
a Caribbean island named Hispaniola (today divided into the countries of
Haiti and the Dominican Republic). There he became a military commander
under the governor.
In 1506, Ponce de León explored an island named Borinquen (soon to be
renamed Puerto Rico).
There he heard many stories about gold. Hoping to discover this gold,
Ponce de León led soldiers to conquer the island. He and his men killed
many native people. Later, Spain’s King Ferdinand made him governor of
the island.
Ponce de León soon heard of a magic fountain on another island. Stories
told of a “fountain of youth” whose waters were said to make people young
again. Ponce de León asked permission to search for this island. He
wanted the glory of finding such a wonderful spot.
In 1513, Ponce de León set sail. After a month, he reached a coast
with palm trees, sweet-smelling flowers, and beautiful birds. He landed on
the Catholic feast day called Easter of Flowers, or Pascua Florida in
Spanish. Ponce de León named the land Florida and claimed it for
Spain. He sailed up and down the coast, but he did not find the fountain of
youth. So he went back to Puerto Rico.
In 1521, he returned to Florida to start a settlement. He brought 200 men as
well as horses, cattle, and seeds to plant. The American Indians there
resented the invasion. They attacked, and an arrow struck Ponce de
León. Wounded, he sailed to Cuba and soon died. He never knew that
Florida was not an island but part of a vast continent.
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Lesson 6 and 7 Resource: Ponce de Leon Reading Notes
Lesson 5 Resource: Cause and Effect Chart
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Lesson 7 Image: Hernan Cortes
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Lesson 7 Image: Francisco Pizarro
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Lesson 8 Images: Maps of Henry Hudson’s Exploration
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Lesson 8 Student Text
Social Studies Alive! America’s Past
Chapter 5: Routes of Exploration to the New World
Textbook Pg.65
England kept searching for a northern sea route to Asia as did the
country called Holland or the Netherlands. In 1609, the Dutch East India
Company in Holland hired Henry Hudson, an English sea captain. He set
out to reach China by sailing around the northern shores of Europe, near
the Arctic Circle. But his crew grew tired of ice and cold. They rebelled.
Hudson agreed to change course and sail west across the Atlantic instead.
While sailing along the Atlantic coast of North America, Hudson and his
men entered a narrow harbor. From there, Hudson saw a large body of
water leading north. Believing that this was the Northwest Passage, Hudson
sailed up the waterway. When the water became too shallow for his boat,
Hudson realized that it was only a river. (Today, this is called the Hudson
River.) But his voyage gave Holland a claim in North America. By 1624, the
Dutch had settled in the Hudson Valley.
In 1610, English merchants paid Hudson to cross the Atlantic
again. Reaching Canada, Hudson sailed farther north. He passed through a
long, narrow strait into a large body of water. Hudson was sure that he had
reached the Pacific Ocean. But, sailing down the coast, he found no
opening. Then the waters froze, trapping the ship for the winter. In fact,
Hudson had not reached the Pacific. The large body of water was a bay. It
is now called Hudson Bay.
In the spring, the crew rebelled again. They set Hudson, his son, and
seven others afloat in a small boat. Hudson was never seen again. But his
voyage did give England a claim to eastern Canada.
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Lesson 8 Resource: Henry Hudson Reading Notes
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Lesson 8 Resource: T-Chart
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Lesson 9: Lesson 1 Images
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Lesson 9 Resource: Explanation Graphic Organizer
Topic: ______________________________________________ (impact of exploration)
Topic Sentence (idea)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Example 1 (evidence from explorer)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation for Example 1 (how it connects to idea)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Example 2 (evidence from explorer)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation for Example 2 (how it connects to idea)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
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Example 3 (evidence from explorer)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Explanation for Example 3 (evidence from explorer)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Concluding Sentence (restate idea)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
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