Classroom Activities: K-3

Minnesota State Standards: The standards in kindergarten through grade 3 require students to master fundamental understandings that prepare them for in-depth study of history, geography, economics, and civics and government later on. These understandings include concepts associated with familiar local environments and current times to faraway places and distant times. In addition to learning key concepts, students begin to apply essential disciplinary skills including civics skills, geospatial skills, economic reasoning and historical inquiry. Content in the early grades is balanced among the four social studies disciplines with no single discipline emphasized over another.

Although Edward Terry’s text is likely too difficult for students in kindergarten through third grade to fully comprehend, the images included in this exhibit are nonetheless valuable. Students can trace the voyage of the Charles from England to India, learning en route about the various cultures and peoples there. The woodcuts and illustrations in this exhibit also provide a starting place from which students can begin to learn about the relationship between Europe and Africa during the Age of Exploration. The development of these historical and geospatial skills will permit these students, even at their young age, to have a firmer grasp of history beyond the scope of Europe and the United States.

Questions to consider:

• Where did Edward Terry travel? How did he get from England to India?
• What modern countries correspond to the places that Terry describes?
• Draw a map of a journey that you have taken. How did you get from the start to the end of your journey?