A Lazy Sunday and a Columbus Day Resource

Whew! Another busy week has come and gone! 

We had our annual back to school night this past Thursday. I spent the week cleaning my room and frantically finishing up some last minute projects.  Besides the fact that the cupcakes I brought to share with the families were swarmed with ants by lunchtime and that my classroom bookshelf decided to collapse about 30 minutes before the parents arrived, the night was a success!

It is always interesting to spend time with the parents and learn a little more about our students. I had a pretty good turn out and I was so happy to share my students hard work with their families. All in all it was a good night! 

I spent yesterday busy with my side job and now, my weekly Sunday planning ritual is here...it seems like I was sitting in this same spot planning a minute ago...how can it be that another week has already come and gone?!?! 

Anyway, as I sit here  blogging, surfing the web, watching TV,  planning I am looking forward to October. While searching through all of my October stuff I found one of my favorite  Columbus Day resources and wanted to share. 

I found this song a couple of years ago and I really love the way that it acknowledges and honors both the diverse Native Americans cultures, as well as  the contributions of Christopher Columbus. It usually leads to some good discussion in fifth grade... 

   You can listen to the song *here*. 

Here are the lyrics: 

Words and music © 1991 by Nancy Schimmel

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue,
It was a courageous thing to do
But someone was already here.
Columbus knew the world was round
So he looked for the East while westward bound,
But he didn't find what he thought he found
And someone was already here.

Chorus:

The Innuit and Cherokee,
The Aztec and Menominee,
The Onadaga and the Cree;
Columbus sailed across the sea,
But someone was already here.

It isn't like it was empty space,
Caribs met him face to face.
Could anyone discover the place
When someone was already here?

Chorus

So tell me, who discover what?
He thought he was in a different spot.
Columbus was lost, the Caribs were not;
They were already here.

Columbus Day actually acts as a great segway for my curriculum because we shift from our unit on Native Americans in Pre-Columbian North America and begin our unit on the Age of Exploration.

Here are some great books I also use when discussing Christopher Columbus with my students: 

 Kids love this book! Lots of great facts not only about Columbus' voyages but also sailing during the time period in general. Engaging read!

This story of Columbus' landing is told from the point of view of a Taino child.  This book lends itself  nicely to teaching perspective and looking at both sides of a story. Wonderful illustrations!

And since my kiddos are such comic book fanatics I just picked up this guy on Amazon today. I've seen other books from the series and I am hoping that this one is a great as the others I have seen. 

How do you teach about Columbus? Leave a comment and let me know! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 

As for me  I'll be here diligently planning...or maybe I'll go for a walk or head down to the bookstore ...or.....