Objectives:  

* Students will recognize how Columbus' discoveries effected the Native Americans.

* After reading Christopher Columbus, students will be able to write a story about Columbus' first step on American ground from the Native American point of view.

* Given the reader's theater on Christopher Columbus, students will be able to place the events of Christopher Columbus' life and voyage in order on a time line.

* Given the reader's theater, students will recognize the characteristics of Columbus by completing a character sketch of him.

* Students will be able to write a letter with correct grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Time Required:  

1 week

Vocabulary:  

Materials:  

Christopher Columbus (book)

Background Information

Reader's Theater Play

* stamps

* reader's theater * envelopes

* poster paper

* paper

* map of the world

* markers

* pencil

* white and brown art paper

* water colors

* paint brushes

* glue

Procedures:  

To find out what the students already know about Columbus Day, group the children into four groups. Group them according to their birthdays: group one: birthdays in January, February, and March; group two: April, May, and June; group three, next three months; group four, last three months of the year. Have the following questions on large sheets of poster paper:

* What did Columbus find when he reached his destination?

* What happened to Columbus before he reached land?

* What do you think the Native Americans thought when they saw Columbus and his men?

* What happened to the Native Americans after the arrival of Columbus?

Assign each group a station and a certain color of marker. After 3 minutes at the first station have the groups move to the next station. Explain to them that they need to add to the list, but they can't write anything that is already on the list. 

Rotate the groups, so that each group has a chance to contribute to each station. Have one person from each group be the spokesman to tell the class the five most important things on their list.

  Make copies for every student in the classroom. Assign the main parts to individual people and allow time for those people to read over their parts. Remind the students that the whole class joins in on the parts that says "All." This will develop the concept of Christopher Columbus, his life and his voyage.

Explain to the children that Columbus was originally an Italian, but he got the money from Spain so he claimed America for Spain. Explain that Columbus went on four voyages and he thought that he never did find anything special. When he died many people disliked his beliefs and he was ridiculed. He also thought of himself as a failure because he never could find the Indies. Show on a map Columbus' voyage.

 At the conclusion of the reader's theater, have the students complete a character sketch of Columbus. Include his origin, his characteristic of endurance, his characteristic of pride and not letting others tell him he was wrong, his great sailing abilities, etc.

What is a Character Sketch?

A character sketch highlights several important characteristics or personality traits of a person -- a real person, a person in literature, or an imagined person. A good character sketch provides support detail for each identified trait.

 Have the students create a time line of when Columbus was born, until he died. Include important dates in Columbus' life like the following: the day he set sail for his first voyage, the day he landed, the day he returned to Spain, dates of other voyages, etc.

 Read the book, Christopher Columbus by Jan Gleiter and Kathleen Thompson. Read up to page twenty-six and stop. Ask the students to write a story as if they were the Native Americans on the island, watching the sailors come in on huge boats and wearing fancy clothing. Have students share stories if desired.

 Discuss with the students how the Native Americans would have felt to see strange men dressed in strange clothing pull up in a huge boat and kiss the ground and say funny things. It was probably quite a shock. Discuss how the Native Americans were very generous with their belongings. Tell the students that the name of the Native Americans that met Columbus were Tainos. Tell the students that Columbus forced some Indians onto their boat, and later ransacked their villages, made them into slaves and took many back to Spain. From that time on, life for the Native Americans was difficult. They were homeless in their own land. Explain what "to discover" actually means. Explain that Columbus wasn't the first to discover America, the Native Americans were. Also explain that today the Native Americans that once owned the entire continent, now only have small reservations that they call home. Add to the timeline when Native Americans first came to America.

 Have the students write letters to different organizations for information about Christopher Columbus. Explain to the students what a good letter needs to consist of. For example, the first paragraph should explain what the students are studying in class. The second paragraph should be the questions that they want answered. The third paragraph should show appreciation. Explain to the children also where to indent, where commas should go in a letter and appropriate words to use such as "Dear sir or madam," and "sincerely." Send the letters to the following organizations and have the student's questions be directed toward what happened to the Native Americans because of Columbus and what happened to them after Columbus came.

Columbus: Countdown 1992

166-25 Powells Cove Boulevard

Beechhurst, New York 11357

Discovery Five Hundred

PO Box 1492

Columbus, New Jersey 08022

American Geographical Society Collection

Golda Meir Library

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

PO Box 604

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201

Christopher Columbus

Quincentenary Jubilee Commission

1801 F Street NW

Washington, DC 20006

 Discuss any letters that the students might have received. Discuss that even though Columbus' arrival was a great discovery for the people of Europe, it proved to be unfortunate for the Native Americans. Then ask the students a final question: "What do you know about Columbus' voyage and also how the voyage affected the Native Americas? 

Evaluation:  

* Stories from the Native American perspective will be assessed.

* Character sketches will be assessed by including three characteristics required for passing.

* Observations during reader's theater.

* Letters will be assessed making sure the editing is correct: grammar, spelling, punctuation.

* Time lines of Columbus' life and voyage will be assessed with students meeting 80% accuracy.

* The students understanding of how Columbus changed the Native American way of life will be assessed with a discussion.

Extension Activities:  

Give the students two pieces of white art paper. On one piece have them use water colors to create a sunset. On the other use water colors to create the ocean. Tear the ocean page into strips. Place the strips on the page with the sunset creating the image of waves on the ocean. Have the students make a boat to place in their pictures to represent Columbus' voyage.

Christopher Columbus Scavenger Hunt

Home Learning:

 Create a timeline at this website.

• Enter "The Life and Times of Christopher Columbus" as the Title.
• Enter your own name in the field By.
• Select "Date" from the drop-down menu for Unit of Measure.
• Click on "Next Entry" in the upper right-hand corner of the screen to begin creating your timeline.

Instruct students to build a timeline made up of at least five key dates or events collected during their cyber scavenger hunt. To get students started, you might model how to create a timeline entry using the LCD projector. Remind students to print out their timeline when they are finished working. Monitor students carefully to answer any questions they have while working and keep them on task.

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