explorers

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Archive : 2002 : April : 5

explorers
By Lynne

What a great idea! How much time do you have to devote to this unit? For land, I'd say Magellan, Smith, Columbus, Ponce de Leon, Champlaign, Marco Polo would be good choices. For the sky, Amelia Earhart, Lindbergh, the Wright
brothers,several astronauts would work, as well as those who pioneered flight in hot air balloons(maybe even pull in journalist Nellie Bly who went around the world in one-there's a cute children's book out that tells the story of her journey from a pet monkey's point of view, but I can't remember the title off-hand.)For ideas, Greek philosophers Plato & Socrates, inventors Edison,

Fulton, Ford, and others who changed the way we live in this country. I wish you luck with your unit. One activity that I've used with my explorers' unit is called Breakfast with an Explorer. After researching an explorer and writing a report, each student comes up with a costume made from stuff found in the home. They come to school one morning in character and we all go to the cafeteria for juice and doughnuts. All conversation is carried on in character and it's fun to see Ponce de Leon chatting with Columbus or Father Marquette. Another fun culminating activity is to have the students dress as their explorer and memorize a two minute monologue about his/her contributions to the world. Other classes are invited to see a Wax Museum. As groups of students stop in front of the "mannequins", they come to life, say their speech, then strike a new pose until animated again. We usually hand out tickets and give each visitor 5. They drop the tickets into a cup in front of the chosen exhibition and the speeches begin. Please email me if you want more details.