Lost Treasure Hunt: Columbus Voyage

2nd and 3rd Grade

Materials: Internet accessibility, paper, pencil, classroom objects or props, construction paper, popsicle sticks, clay, paperclips, glue, various other optional materials for the enrichment activity, tub of water

Approximate Length of Lesson: 60 – 90 minutes

Balanced Literacy Format: Shared/Independent writing

Lesson Presentation Format: Whole group and small cooperative groups

Lesson Suggestions: In this lesson, you will be showing your students a video, Lost Treasure Hunt: Columbus Voyage which is about two children who play detectives to find a stolen artifact from 1492 and learn about Columbus’ voyage in the process. (This video can be found by typing Lost Treasure Hunt in the Studies Weekly Search Bar.) Before the video, discuss the characters that will be in the video:

Agent – Guardian of historic artifacts. Protector and guide for the teen Sleuth agents. But can this double agent be trusted?

Ava – Language and culture expert. Ava is a fearless field agent determined to take down Cypher and unravel a family secret.

Cypher Master – Who is the unseen person directing the Cypher agents on the international treasure hunt?

Datum – Electronic companion to the Sleuth agents. The communication database provides information, videos, and maps through fast-moving interactive holograms.

Dex – Technology specialist and code breaker. After years of training in the museum headquarters, Dex must figure out why Sleuth has chosen his first real mission to start now.

Enigma - The Cypher code database. Enigma is the repository of Cypher data used by enemy agents seeking clues.

Ivan - Professional criminal hired by Cypher to find the treasure of Columbus. With spies across the globe, why would Cypher need a thief like Ivan?

MacGuffin – High-ranking Sleuth official. Mentor to the young agents, MacGuffin chooses to appear only by hologram.

Next, show the video. You may then:

  1. Have the students pretend to be Christopher Columbus and have them write a (persuasive) letter to Queen Isabella of Spain. What might Columbus have said to Queen Isabella of Spain since he had been turned down for funds before? Students should use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation in their writing and demonstrate their knowledge of Columbus’ persistence to sail west.
  2. Have the students form cooperative groups to act out the interaction that Columbus may have had with the natives upon his arrival to land. Students should be in small cooperative groups and may use props. The skit should be at least two minutes long. Students should infer how Columbus, his men and the natives all interacted with each other.
  3. Have the students generate a few sentences about what their dream is. Columbus’ dream was to sail west to find gold, pearls and spices. You may wish to have students write their sentences on a construction paper cutout of a boat, cloud, or ocean wave and create a bulletin board inside or outside of your classroom of dreams. Students should use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation in their writing.

Teacher Questions, (Answers) and Cognitive Complexity Level/Relevance Level

·  Explorers were trying to reach which continent? (Asia) LOW/2

·  Why do you think the expedition across the ocean was considered risky at the time? (Accept reasonable answers where students demonstrate knowledge that sturdy boats and technology such as GPS was not available at the time.) HIGH/3

·  What does Dex mean when he says, “We’re sitting ducks in here!” (Students should infer that Dex is saying that they have no safety or protection against an attack by Cypher.) MODERATE/1

Differentiated Instruction:

  1. For the persuasive letter activity, allow students to type their letter onto a word processing program or 2.0 technology website. Or, students may record an audio narration of what they would say.
  2. For the skit, allow for a short duration of time. In addition, you may provide an outline of what details the students should cover within their skit.
  3. For the dream activity, allow students to type their sentences onto a word processing program or 2.0 technology website. In addition, you may wish to give the students a template that says, “My dream is ______.”

Enrichment Activity:

·  Many explorers were trying to reach Asia and find a better route and would need reliable boats. Using materials such as Popsicle sticks, clay, glue and various other materials, have students design a vessel that will float. If the vessel floats, have students count the number of paperclips that can be added to the vessel before it sinks and reflect on how boats would have to be constructed to hold supplies and people for long amounts of time.