Celebrate Columbus Day! Or should we say Indigenous Peoples Day?!?

Thursday, 10/8/2009

To celebrate or not to celebrate? In recent years the merits of celebrating Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America have been called into question. One school of thought suggests we should honor Christopher Columbus and his momentous achievements, while others debate the glorification of someone who wreaked havoc on Indigenous communities with murder, theft and the spread of disease.

Whichever school of thought you belong to, we’ve found some great lesson plans and resources to help make Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day a success.

Columbus Day Celebrations:

• “Columbus Day Web Hunt” – Scholastic has created this activity for younger students. It asks them to research the money, supplies, and resources needed to go an expedition, and asks students to think critically about every step of planning and research that went into Columbus’ expedition.
• “Christopher’s Crossing” – A fun board game that teachers can create from normal school supplies. Students can play the game to learn about Columbus’ crossing.
• “Columbus Recipes” – A collection of easy to make recipes for the foods Columbus and his team ate on their sea voyage. The hands on activity will will give students better insight into the life of a sea explorer.

The Columbus Debate:

• “Should we Celebrate Columbus Day” Lesson Plan – This lesson uses the Columbus Day debate to spark critical thinking and discussion.
• “Examining the Record of Columbus” – A great article by Jack Weatherford of Macalaster College that can generate a discussion.

Indigenous Peoples Celebrations:

• “Dramatize Folktales Legends, and Myths” – Have students act out Native American Folktales.
• “Native American Recipes” – Have students make several recipes that are popular in some Native American cultures. Contrast them with the recipes of Columbus.

Cite Note: Several of the activities listed above were referenced from educationworld.com.

Posted by » walden
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