Setting Sail to Learn About Christopher Columbus

Drawing

MrsQuimbyReads, columbus day activities, elementary school, teach about columbus

How to draw a ship with sails.  Drawing these steps one at a time can be a great listening lesson.  And the results are rewarding ! Read these steps below giving your students time to listen, think and then create is a great way to improve listening and also talk about Christopher Columbus.  Drawing the sails from the bottom up makes it easier to connect them at the corners to create the windblown look.
1. Draw the hull near the bottom of the paper.
2. Add the three masts as shown.
3. Add the sails to each mast working from the bottom up and from stem to stern so they overlap properly. 
4. The mast lines inside the sails are erased.
5. Water, clouds, moon, flags and hull details are added. 
6. The drawing is traced with a black marker and then colored in with colored pencil.

This is a high-interest activity and students are motivated to draw a ship after reading about Christopher Columbus.  


Reading
books for Columbus day, teaching resources, elementary school

This book is brief and simple text with beautiful illustrations.  Ask your students what they see on the cover, make predictions and begin to read the rhyme and rhythm text of this story.  When you are finished reading, place it on your chalk tray to display and invite your students to take a closer look. 

Creating 
Columbus ships activities, teaching resources, MrsQuimbyReads
Ships for Snacks

Blue Jello and Orange Quarter are easy to make and so make Columbus Day Learning fun. 

Easy to Build " Egg Carton Ships".
Materials Needed: cardboard egg cups, modeling clay or play dough, 5 toothpicks, 1 sheet white paper, scissors, craft glue
Cut sails from white paper. 

craftivities for columbus day, teaching resources, first grade

Paint your eggcups brown. Set aside 3 toothpicks for the large sails. Break or cut the other three toothpicks in half; giving you 6 halves.  Line of glue through the middle of sails. Place the broken half on the glue line. Repeat until all sails are made. Place your playdough in the eggcup to hold your sails in place. 

After you build your ships, you will need a map.   


teaching ideas for columbus day, elementary school

Draw outlines of land and dotted lines from Spain to New World on a brown grocery bag; crunched up, of course.    Paint the land and water.  Add details... you have your artist's license to create and paint your map. 


Writing
writing about Columbus, MrsQuimbyReads, resources for columbus day
Find these pages HERE ... Easy PRINTABLES ... NO PREP

columbus day activities, MrsQuimbyReads

Read. Think. Write. Learn.  
About Christopher Columbus

reading text for columbus day, teaching resources for columbus, primary grades
Find Writing Prompts HERE