YOU, TOO, CAN BE AN EXPLORER
THEME
Explorers are people who travel about the world looking for
adventure, meeting new people, and finding new information. Lewis
and Clark were explorers of America a long time ago, and there
are still explorers today. In fact, anyone who takes action to
find out something he or she did not know before is an explorer.
Sometimes explorers get lost. In fact one of the young men on
the expedition got lost twice--once for two weeks. Anyone who
goes exploring needs to have a plan with ideas of what they should
do if they become lost.
GOALS
- To introduce students to the concept of
exploration through stories of Lewis and Clark on the trail.
- To call attention to the fact that there
still are explorers today.
- To broaden the meaning of exploration
to include the student's own experiences.
- To stress the need to know what to do
if one becomes lost while exploring.
OBJECTIVES
When the lesson is completed, students will be able to:
- List three ways Lewis and Clark traveled
on their expedition.
- Describe two kinds of explorers today.
- Relate one way in which they themselves
have been explorers.
- State the basic rules for what to do if
one gets lost.
ADVANCE
PREPARATION
- Preview the contents and teachings aids
for this unit by clicking on the following capitalized titles:
The INTRODUCTION provides an overview
of the unit's contents and organization. The SYNOPSIS
of the Lewis and Clark Expedition briefly sums up the historical
background on which this lesson plan (YOU, TOO, CAN BE AN EXPLORER)
is based. EXPLORING AT
SCHOOL and EXPLORING IN
THE COMMUNITY are activities involving field trips. Both emphasize
that one doesn't have to be a famous adventurer to be an explorer.
WHAT DID YOU SEE? WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
combines a craft activity (making a journal) with communication
skills (drawing and writing in the journal). Attention is called
to the historical importance of the journals kept by Lewis and
Clark as well as the satisfaction of keeping one's own journal.
HELP LEWIS AND CLARK FIND THE PATH
TO THE WATERFALL is a reproducible worksheet containing a
maze puzzle. This exercise introduces students to Captain Lewis'
first sighting of the Great Falls of the Missouri River. The original
passage, written by Lewis himself, is readily accessible under
JOURNAL EXCERPTS "A".
Be sure to look over the supplemental materials also. For suggestions
about choosing Lewis and Clark resources, click on LEWIS
AND CLARK RESOURCE MATERIALS. For additional information,
see TEACHING AIDS "A".
The GLOSSARY
AND PRONUNCIATION GUIDE provides assistance with names and
terms associated with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Finally,
the EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS AND MULTIPLE-INTELLIGENCES
CHARTS A, B, C, D contain specific educational standards and
multiple-intelligences goals fulfilled by this unit.
- Before beginning the lesson, refresh your
memory about the Lewis and Clark Expedition by reading the brief
SYNOPSIS. Discuss the information
with the class.
- Collect the following pictures of the
Lewis and Clark expedition to use while telling the expedition
story: walking on the trail, sailing or canoeing on the river,
and riding horses through the mountains.
- Collect pictures of modern explorers such
as mountaineers, divers, astronauts, etc. to use during class
discussion.
- Collect pictures of children doing such
things as reading, hiking, catching butterflies, visiting a museum,
etc. to use during class discussion.
(For assistance in finding books and pictures click on TEACHING
AIDS "A.")
- Obtain a large map of the United States
and a map of the Lewis and Clark trail to use while telling the
story. A free trail map may be obtained from any of the National
Park sites along the trail. For addresses, click on NATIONAL PARK
SITES ON THE LEWIS AND CLARK TRAIL. Trail Maps also may be obtained
from the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail at www.nps.gov/lecl/maps.htm.
For animated maps, click on
http://www.nps.gov/jeff/LewisClark2/HomePage/HomePage.htm.
IMPLEMENTATION
Background Story
 After
Christopher Columbus sailed to North America in 1492, two hundred
years passed before people from Europe began coming to make their
homes in the New World. Many tribes of Indians already lived here,
of course, but there seemed to be enough room for everyone. Spanish
people settled in the Southwestern part of America. (Ask a student
to point out the Southwest on a United States map.) French people
settled along the coasts of Canada and along the St. Lawrence and
Mississippi Rivers (Ask a student to point out those areas on
the map.)
Many of the newcomers from England settled along the Atlantic Seacoast
of America. (Ask a student to point out the Atlantic seacoast.)
It was these settlers that eventually created the United States
of America. Only a few Europeans settled in the interior part of
the country west of the Mississippi River. (Ask a student to
point out this area.) Many different Indian groups lived there,
but not much was known about them or the land in which they lived.
When Thomas Jefferson became president, he believed it was time
to find out. He could not go himself, so he chose a young army captain
named Meriwether Lewis to explore the western part of America. Captain
Lewis asked a friend, William Clark, to go along. Together they
chose a group of strong, young men to go exploring with them. They
called themselves the Corps of Discovery.
The men chosen by the captains were from many different backgrounds.
Thirty-five of them were soldiers in the United States Army. Twelve
men were boatmen hired to help take the expedition's three large
boats up the Missouri River. Others came along to hunt or because
they could speak Indian languages.
Some members were French, others were English, and still others
were members of native tribes. One Corps member named York
was a black man, a sloave owned by Captain
Clark. A family joined the Corps later on--a French Canadian
interpreter named Toussaint
Charbonneau, his Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea,
and their infant son, Jean
Baptiste, also called Pomp.
There were no cars, trains, or airplanes back then, so the Corps
of Discovery traveled in boats, on horseback, or on foot just as
the Indian people did. On their long journey, they passed through
prairies, crossed high mountains, saw many rivers, and described
lots of plants
and animals
they had never seen before. They also met many Indian
people who gave them food and helped them find the way.
The explorers had some hard times, too, but no amount of bad luck
stopped them. They just kept going and going. They went all the
way across America to the Pacific Ocean and then back to St. Louis.
The journey took two years and four months.
Class Discussion: Explorers Today
Lewis and Clark were explorers a long, long time ago. Do you suppose
there are still explorers today? (Use this lead-in to discuss
modern explorers such as astronauts, deepsea divers, mountain climbers,
etc.)
Only a few people are able to become mountain climbers, divers,
or astronauts, but that doesn't mean ordinary people can't be explorers,
too. In fact, I'll bet some of you have been explorers. Have you
ever gone on a field trip--maybe to a park, a zoo, or a museum?
YOU WERE AN EXPLORER! Have you ever taken a hike in the woods to
look for insects, leaves, animals, flowers, birds? YOU WERE AN EXPLORER!
Did you ever want to know more about something or how to do something,
so you went to the library and read books about it? YOU WERE AN
EXPLORER because you took action to find out something you didn't
know before.
Class Discussion: Getting Lost While Exploring
It is fun to be an explorer, but it's not fun to get lost. One of
the members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Private George Shannon,
got lost for sixteen days. The Corps of Discovery had two horses
with them and one night they strayed away from camp. The next morning
Shannon went out to look for the horses and got lost himself. He
thought he was behind the expedition, so he kept hurrying to catch
up with them. Unfortunately, he was ahead of them, so no matter
how much he hurried, he couldn't catch them. Finally, he decided
they had left him behind and he started back the way he had come.
He hoped he would meet a trader who would take him back to St. Louis.
Imagine his surprise and joy when he met the Corps members coming
toward him. He was very hungry, but otherwise all right.
Whenever you go exploring away from your own home, always have an
adult go with you. Never explore alone--and be sure you know what
to do in case you should get separated from your friends or family.
(Ask students if they have ever been lost and what they did about
it. Go over the rules for what to do when lost. (Click on TEACHING
AIDS "A" and scroll to "Getting Lost.")
CONCLUSION
It is fun and exciting to read stories about Lewis and Clark and
other explorers of long ago. It is also interesting to read about
people today who have traveled all the way to the moon, to the top
of the highest mountains, or dived into the deepest parts of the
ocean. Maybe you will be an explorer like that yourself someday.
However, you don't have to go to the moon or the bottom of the ocean
to be an explorer. There are always places and things to visit nearby,
and lots of books to read for those who want to know more about
the world around them.
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY
Follow up this lesson plan (YOU, TOO, CAN BE AN EXPLORER)
with one or more of the related activities listed both in the INTRODUCTION
and in this lesson plan under ADVANCE
PREPARATION, number 1.
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