CKLA Knowledge 

 Our new unit focuses on  Christopher Columbus and other Explorers  . 

This domain will introduce students to two important topics in the history of the United States: the first voyage of Columbus and the voyage of the Pilgrims more than 100 years later. The progression of American history moves naturally from the land and its first inhabitants to Columbus and the Pilgrims, so it is recommended that the Native Americans domain be taught prior to Columbus and the Pilgrims. The Read-Alouds stress the similarities between the voyages of Columbus and the Pilgrims (how small the ships were, how long the journey was, and how they both led to interactions between Europeans and Native Americans). In addition, the Read-Alouds emphasize the motives that prompted both Columbus’s and the Pilgrims’ voyages (gold and spices for Columbus; freedom for the Pilgrims). Though these similarities between Columbus and the Pilgrims are stressed, be sure to make explicit that they are two quite separate chapters in American history and that Columbus and the Pilgrims never interacted. This domain also reinforces basic geography concepts, including the locations of the different continents. The topics of Columbus and the Pilgrims, including Thanksgiving, are important because they touch on fundamental issues of the nation’s founding— how Europeans learned about the Western Hemisphere, how the nation was settled by Europeans with a strong Christian faith, and why the colonies struggled with their dependency on Great Britain. Along with these basic ideas, students will examine why Columbus called the people whom he met “Indians” and the land he reached “India.” Students will also come to understand that the New World was not exactly new, but new to europeans.