Sailing the Atlantic with Columbus

God is good. We had such a fun day with our friends. I had to get on and post the cute photos I took... I apologize in advance that they are dark and grainy. I had to use my camcorder to take pictures because my digital had no juice.

Here are some things we did for our Columbus Day Unit Study:

• We read "History Maker Bios: Christopher Columbus" by Susan Bivin Aller together and discussed as we read it
• We found Italy, Portugal, The Atlantic Ocean, India, China, Japan, San Salvador, Hispaniola, Cuba, Haiti, South America, Jamaica, and Spain on a map
• See a map of the "known world" in the 1400's before the discovery of the "New World"
• Read the poem "In 1492, Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue"
• Pretend you are a sailor on one of Columbus' ships and write a ship's log
• Discuss how the crew might have felt when they didn't find gold, and when they met the "Indians"... and how they might have felt being left behind
• Discuss being shipwrecked for a year on an island (as Columbus was on another voyage), and how it might have been meeting cannibals
• Draw, Write Now! Handwriting and Art project - Draw the three ships: Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria (discuss which ship sank and why)
• Discuss different types of landmasses: Island and Peninsula
• Do Columbus crossword puzzle worksheet, word search worksheet, and alphabetizing worksheet
• Make a salt-dough "map" in the shape of Italy, bake it, cool it, and paint it
• Write our Bible Verse for the day: "Psalm 37:5 - Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."
• Read from the Kid's Presidential Prayer Website about Columbus and other interesting information for today
• Paint the continents on a large poster board
• Paint three small "ships" (made from egg carton, popsicle sticks and little paper sails)
• Chart the course of Columbus on our map with our boats, locate key points (see list above)
• Do a quiz over the information we learned today with our friends (WOW, did they remember it all! I was shocked!)

Here are some cute pictures of our fun day with friends:

Four Craftsmen working on their Caravels...

Two "Italian" Painters

Looks like Italy got nuked...

My favorite homeschooled navigators set sail on the ocean blue...

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