1.
Review:
read “At Home in Portugal” on page 9 and “Off to Spain” on
page 10 of Hands
on History Christopher Columbus by
Mary Tucker.
2. Read:
pages 22-30 in Columbus
by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire.
3.
Comprehension questions:
Columbus
left the port of Palos, Spain on August 3, 1492. He took three
ships. Can you remember the names of the ships? (Nina, Pinta, and
Santa Maria) Which ship was the smallest? (the Nina)
Which ship was the largest? (the Santa Maria) Which ship was
the fastest? (the Pinta)
What
did Columbus and his sailors hope to find? Gold and riches
Who
did Christopher's son stay with? The monks
What
ship did Columbus ride on? The Santa Maria
What
direction did they sail? West
Columbus's
sailors wanted to turn around and sail back to Spain, what did they
threaten to do to Columbus? Throw him overboard
Why
did Columbus finally change the direction that they were traveling
to the Southwest? To follow the flock of birds
4. Map
Skills: How did Columbus navigate on the Ocean?
Columbus
kept a logbook (journal) of where he thought they were. He kept track by checking his maps, following his compass, and watching
the stars. He used dead reckoning to get where he wanted to go. Dead reckoning
was a system of using a compass and the North Star to keep on course.
Define-
Navigation is the art
of getting from one place to another, safely and efficiently.
Maps- In Columbus' time they had not yet developed a way to measure distances at sea, also they hadn't come up with a way to portray the round earth on a flat map. This made the maps of the time very inaccurate. The size of each land mass on the maps were more of a reflection of their importance for trade routes than actual geographical size. The charts and maps had a compass rose indication bearing between trading ports.
Compass-
Early
mariners found the compass inconsistent; probably because they didn't understand variation (a compass points to the magnetic north pole, not true north). They could not explain the variations and couldn't put much trust in the compass readings when navigation unknown sea. Columbus' compass was checked against the North Star or pole star.
Sun
and stars- Navigators of the time could determine latitude (north/south direction) by observing the height of the sun during the day and the North Star at night. Ships could follow the east/west movement of the sun to determine the direction the wished to travel. However, the navigators had no way to accurately determine longitude. Once the ship was out of sight of land they had no idea how far east/west they were. They made estimates based on the time it took them to get there.
5.
Discuss: read “They're
Off!” on
page 14 of Hands
on History Christopher Columbus by
Mary Tucker. Have the students find the Canary Islands on a world
map. Have them note how far Columbus had gone in 3 weeks and how
much farther he had to go.
Compass
Calculations
Go
outside and explain how a compass works. Think and talk about how a
compass could have helped Christopher Columbus. What direction was
he going? Since a compass always points north, how did it keep
Columbus headed in the right direction?
Give
students various directions to follow such as: take 8 steps north,
then 5 steps west, then 10 steps south and see where you end up?
Ask
them which direction they need to go to get to the car? Or back to
the house? Or to the trampoline? Students use the compass to figure
out the directions they should go.
Measuring
Columbus' Ships
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| Measuring Columbus' Ships |
1.
Discuss the size of the 3 ships:
Christopher
Columbus' fleet consisted of three vessels obtained in a tiny Spanish
coastal port. The Pinta and Nina were caravels: boats that were
longer for a given width to give them a streamlined configuration.
The Pinta was three-masted with square-rigged sails; the Nina, though
the smallest, had four masts and was lateen-rigged (triangular
sails).
Santa
Maria:
Class
and
type: Nao
Tons
burthen: 108 tons (119 short tons)
Length:
Est. at 17.7 m (58 ft) on deck, and about (22 m) 72 ft length over
all.
Beam
(width): 5.85 (19.2 ft)
Draught:
2.92 m (9.6 ft)
Complement:
40 men*
Pinta:
Class
and type: Caravel
Tons
burthen: 60 - 70 tons
Length:
17 m (56 ft) on deck
Beam
(width): 5.36 m (17.6 ft)
Draught:
2.31 m (7.6 ft)
Complement:
26 men
Nina:
Class
and type: Caravel
Tons
burthen: 50 - 60 tons
Length:
15.24 m (50 ft) on deck
Beam
(width): 4.85 m (15.9 ft)
Draught:
2.07 m (6.8 ft)
Complement:
24 men
Materials:
Procedure:
Cut
each piece of white paper into a large triangle flag, write the name
of each ship on one, and tape them to the top of the 3 largest
sticks.
Start
at a tree and measure out the length of the largest ship first
(Santa Maria length over all) and put the flag stick in the ground
(you can soften the ground with a cup of water).
Then
go the the middle of that measurement and measure the width, putting
a stick in the ground at each end of the width.
Tie
the yarn to the tree and run it along the outside of the 3 sticks in
the ground to form a kind of outline of the ships deck.
Repeat
with the Pinta and then the Nina.
If
you have 24 in your class you can have them all stand in the Nina
outline and ask them if they feel crowded? Would they like to eat,
sleep, and work in that space for over 2 months?
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| Measuring Columbus' Ships |
Tips:
This
demonstration can be done with just the Santa Maria if you don't have
the time to do all of the ships.
Ships In A Bottle
We used a 2 liter soda bottle for this activity. We printed out the Ships In A Bottle on cardstock. Next we cut the end of the bottle off and taped the ships in where we wanted them. Then we put int blue shredded paper for the water.
I taped the bottle back together with clear packing tape so you could still see the ships through the bottle.
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| Ships In A Bottle |
Eating
Like Sailors
For snack food, have something that the sailors might have eaten on Columbus's voyage such
as; dried fruit, cheese, honey, almonds, etc... Eat snacks on the floor using their hands to eat with (like the sailors)
Make
hardtack (sea biscuits):
6
parts flour
1 part water
Knead dough until thoroughly
mixed. Roll out on a floured surface until about 1/8 inch thick (or
there abouts). Cut into squares about 3 by 3 inches.
Pierce
the hard tack 12 times with the tip of a knife, making sure hole goes
all the way through the dough.
Bake at 325 for at least an
hour, turning over the hard tack once. Check to see that it is cooked
through completely. Take out & let cool overnight to get that
real hard & dry feeling.
Columbus and Crew Viewpoints
Help your students understand the different viewpoints of Columbus and his crew. Teacher reads Columbus and students read the crew. Encourage them to read their parts with feelings. For this activity we used “Columbus and Crew Rap” on
page 16 of Hands
on History Christopher Columbus by
Mary Tucker.
Sailors
Journal
Columbus recorded the date and how many
miles he traveled in his logbook. The crew on his ship were hungry, scared, and ready
to go home. Pretend you are a member of Columbus's crew. Write a
journal entry describing what you have seen and how you are feeling.
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| Sailors Journal |
