We're thrilled to announce our latest play!
We've had a blast writing European Explorers in the New World. While we have quite a few history and social studies plays for the upper grades, this one adds some wonderful world curriculum to our catalog. Very similar to The American Revolution in its level of difficulty, this is a longer show packed with curriculum, great historical characters (and some invented ones), funny dialogue, and catchy songs. It's perfect for upper-level elementary kids as well as middle-schoolers. Here's the setup:
The Best News Show Ever team, led by anchorwoman Isabelle Scurvy, has discovered a flood of people sailing away from Europe for uncharted destinations. Why are they leaving? What are they hoping to find? To get the answers, our scrappy reporters will track down Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Jacques Cartier and John Cabot, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Montezuma and Atahualpa, soldiers of De Soto and Coronado, Ferdinand Magellan and Francis Drake, and the British colonists who settled Virginia. And don't forget Leif Ericson, who's on a mission to remind us that the history books don't always play fair.
Would people risk life and limb to get their hands on spices? Could germs really destroy entire civilizations? Were there really Seven Cities of Gold in North America? Count on the Best News Show Ever team to bring you the full scoop on this developing story, complete with exciting interviews, entertainment, weather, and sports!
Key Concepts
European Explorers mentions and reinforces the following curriculum:
- Leif Ericson: Norse exploration and temporary settlement c.1000.
- Prince Henry the Navigator: Portuguese exploration of Western Africa to spread Christianity, create new maps, and discover a trade route to the East (fall of Constantinople in 1453; Vasco de Gama)
- Christopher Columbus: his four voyages and mistaken identifications (the Reconquista; the Line of Demarcation)
- Amerigo Vespucci: his exploration of the coast of Brazil and the new continent(s) named after him (Pedro Cabral)
- John Cabot and Jacques Cartier: the search for a Northwest Passage (importance of spices for food preservation and preparation)
- Vasco Nunez de Balboa: the challenge of crossing Panama to encounter the Mar del Sur (later called the Pacific)
- Montezuma (Aztecs) and Atahualpa (Incas): conquistadors, gold, and disease (Cortes in Mexico and Pizzaro in Peru)
- Vasques de Coronado and Hernando de Soto: the search for gold and attempts at colonization in the interior of present-day U.S. (La Salle; Champlain; Seven Cities of Gold)
- Ferdinand Magellan and Francis Drake: circumnavigation of the globe
- British colonization of Virginia: Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth (Walter Raleigh)
Check out the script and song samples, vocabulary, and national standards