Encourage creative exploration in your middle- and upper-graders with these Internet-based classroom activities. Before you begin, distribute the CyberHunt Reproducible page, found at www.scholastic.com/cyberhuntkids

By Philip Stevens

CYBERHUNT REPRODUCIBLE ANSWER GUIDE
1. King Ferdinand II & Queen Isabella.
2. Guanahani. San Salvador.
3. 90-100 miles a day.
4. Flat. Falling off the edge. Trees in the water.
5. Tens of thousands.
6. Three of these: guns, iron tools, weapons, Christianity, Roman law, wheat, sugarcane, horses, and cattle.
7. One million.

CYBERHUNT ACTIVITIES
Supersized Voyage Map
Help students grasp the scale of the legendary first journey of Columbus with a supersized class map. Visit www.mariner.org/age/land.html and www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/columbus/map/Worldmap.shtml for copies of world maps to mark out the voyage, then cover one classroom wall in bulletin board paper. Use a projector to display a large image of a map onto the wall. Have students trace the image, then move the map to the floor so that they can paint and label it. Use model ships to demonstrate the path Columbus traveled. Where did Columbus think he was going? Where did he actually land?

Coat of Arms
After his successful voyages, Spain awarded Columbus the right to bear a coat of arms. Visit www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/frontiers/columbcoat.html to see what it looked like. Talk with students about the symbols that Columbus chose, and what they might reveal about his personality and his position in the Spanish court. Then ask students to design their own coats of arms to reflect their personalities and the important things in their lives. Have students divide their shields into four sections and choose the symbols, shapes, and colors they wish to display.

Journals of Exploration
Columbus kept a careful journal of all of his travels, fragments of which survive. To view some of these, visit www.eduplace.com/ss/hmss/7/unit/act6.1blm.html and www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/01-col.html Columbus wrote about the natural environment and the native people he encountered along his journeys. As you read a few passages aloud and in groups, encourage students to look carefully at his descriptions. Talk about the ways in which what he wrote was influenced by his perspective. How might a Native American have described Columbus and his crew? Invite students to think through this question by writing and illustrating fictional journals from the point of view of a Native American. Then compare students' journals as a class.

Go to Kids' page

CYBERHUNT SAFETY: All of the sites chosen for the CyberHunt and activities have been reviewed by our staff. At press time, all links are safe. However, we strongly urge teachers to review all sites before sharing them with students.

These activities will work best with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape 4.0, or newer versions. Older browsers may experience difficulties with some links.

Instructor magazine. © 2002 Scholastic Inc.