Lesson

We have decided to do a lesson that will tie in with our narrative unit. Students will be writing a narrative essay from the perspective of an explorer. This will tie together both narrative writing and social studies curriculum. I plan to use the picture book, Encounter, by Jane Yolen, as well as Christopher Columbus's diary entry which is in our Harcourt S.S. textbook to provide background knowledge and "voice" for this lesson. Also, we will be completing the history alive units that focus on exploration as well to ensure the students understand the curriculum. SPECS will be used to help them to pull out reasons to explore which will be helpful when they then write a story from an explorer's perspective.