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5th grade · Social Studies · Unit 7 of 8

Explorers & Encounters

Why they sailed and what changed

What your child practices

Practices the religious, political and economic reasons Europeans sailed to the Americas, the explorers and the Indigenous nations they met, and what changed for both, read from maps and accounts of the time.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 5.4.21.1; 5.3.13.1 · why Europeans came to the Americas, and maps of early America from different perspectives

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Columbus sailed for Spain in 1492; Balboa reached the Pacific from Panama in 1513; Cartier explored the St. Lawrence for France.
  2. Explorers faced storms, sickness and running out of food.
  3. Zebulon Pike led a US Army trip up the Mississippi into today's Minnesota in 1805.

Example: Which explorer reached the Pacific Ocean from Panama in 1513? He crossed the narrow land of Panama. He sailed for Spain. Answer: Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Explorers & Encounters in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 7 of 8 in 5th grade Social Studies, after Colonies to Constitution and before Slavery & Resistance.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Francisco Vásquez de Coronado searched the Southwest for…

    • cities of gold
    • a route to the Moon
    • salmon
    • coal

  2. Question 2

    Hernán Cortés is known for…

    • finding the Pacific
    • founding Jamestown
    • leading the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
    • exploring Alaska

  3. Question 3

    French explorers came to the western Great Lakes in the 1600s mostly to…

    • build cotton farms
    • find gold mines
    • start a navy
    • trade for furs and search for a route west

  4. Question 4

    Which explorer reached the Pacific Ocean from Panama in 1513?

    • Cabrillo
    • Drake
    • Vasco Núñez de Balboa
    • Columbus

  5. Question 5

    In 1832, with an Ojibwe guide, Henry Schoolcraft reached the lake that is the source of the Mississippi, now called…

    • Lake Superior
    • Lake Erie
    • Lake Itasca
    • Red Lake

  6. Question 6

    France claimed land along the St. Lawrence and…

    • Colorado River only
    • Nile River
    • Amazon River
    • Mississippi Rivers

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