Integrated Studies

In Social Studies, we are learning about the first explorers to North America. So far, we have read about Columbus and Cabot, but today we read about what life was like for a sailor.

First, students thought of some inquiry questions to guide our reading. They came up with questions like:

• Was life hard for them?
• What did they eat?
• Were there dangers?
• Did they have special gear?
• What were their responsibilities?

Next, I asked students to think about whether these questions would be easy to answer, as most of them could have a simple yes or no response. Here was an example we came up with for deeper inquiry:

If life was hard for the sailors, why would they choose to do it?

Finally, we read the chapter. After reading, students were asked to write a cinquain (a five line poem) to show their understanding of the concepts. Here are a few samples:

Sailors
Explorers, Adventurers
Tiring, Terrifying, Starving
It's a hard journey
Finders

Ships
Magestic, Grand
Gliding, Sailing, Discovering
You'll cross the sea
Adventures

Ships
Ancient, Dangerous
Rocking, Moving, Sailing
Challenging to set sail
Vessel

Adventure
Incredible, Awesome
Exciting, Confusing, Exploring
Finding brand new lands
Exploration