Happy October! Some of you may have already started planning for the entire month of October. I bet some of you are planning fun fall and/or halloween themed activities; but don't forget about Columbus Day! I like to use this holiday to teach my students about Christopher Columbus and to talk about exploration. This year I decided to create a Christopher Columbus mini-unit to teach some of the first grade common core concepts.
The first part of this mini-unit is teaching the students some key vocabulary. In my Christopher Columbus Activity Bundle, there are vocabulary cards (in color or black and white) for the students to examine and discuss some of the key terms used throughout the unit.
Many of these terms are commonly used throughout other units. It is nice to use this unit to introduce several of these key vocabulary terms for the rest of the year.
When creating this bundle I thought about some of the important literacy skills that I need my students to work on. Some of these skills include fluency and sight words. These are both skills that help students become better readers. A few things that I included the help students build their fluency skills are: a poem, a story, and fluency sentences. Fluency sentences are one of my favorite things to use with students because you can easily differentiate by using either simple or complex sentences. You then break them down word by word. Students read the sentence, a line at a time, and build up to the complete sentence. (pictured below)
Another fluency strategy we use is sentence sequencing. It is incredibly powerful for students cut a sentence apart, glue it in order, write it, and read it. Not only does this strategy help with fluency, but it also helps students better understand sentence structure. This is something you can easily make using sentence strips and a pencil!
When creating this bundle I thought about some of the important literacy skills that I need my students to work on. Some of these skills include fluency and sight words. These are both skills that help students become better readers. A few things that I included the help students build their fluency skills are: a poem, a story, and fluency sentences. Fluency sentences are one of my favorite things to use with students because you can easily differentiate by using either simple or complex sentences. You then break them down word by word. Students read the sentence, a line at a time, and build up to the complete sentence. (pictured below)
Since it is still near the beginning of the year, I like to do ABC order whenever I can with my students. This helps to reinforce the alphabet from kindergarten in a more complex and hands on way. Some students are able to handle cut-and-paste activities or need extra practice with those fine motor skills. If you need to save time or you don't want students cutting and pasting you can always have them simply write the words and cross them off in the word bank.
Sight words are another big component of first grade. There are so many wonderful free color-by-sight words pages that you can download from the internet. I decided to create one to go along with the Christopher Columbus unit!
In my school district we are blessed to have several students from different countries around the world. Throughout this unit we have several wonderful conversations about exploration and world travel. It is a great opportunity for students to share information about their native country or countries they have visited. During class discussions we often sit in a circle. I like to introduce the topic or question, pair students up, and give them a chance to share with their partner. After a few minutes of partner talk we come back as a group and pass around the class "microphone." The only person who can talk is the speaker with the microphone. I have found this to be incredibly effective and students have gained a better understanding of respect and how to be good listeners. It is fun to hear the students' perspectives and where they've been or come from. We take advantage of any opportunity to have meaningful class discussions.
Some other fun activities we like to do:
- map and globe observation and discussion
- build "junk boats", race them, and discuss good vs. bad materials to use
- country flags observation and discussion
- students can create their own country flag and write about it
- research project on different explorers (write a paper or a summary, dress as your explorer, and present to the class)
- dress like an explorer day!
There are so many different approaches you can take to teach your students about exploration and Christopher Columbus. If you choose to teach your class about the famous explorer you can download my bundle here.
Otherwise, I hope you're able to use some of those free ideas and have a wonderful experience discussing exploration with your students!
Happy October!
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