Age of Exploration Unit | Age of Discovery

This complete unit covers the causes and effects of the Age of Exploration (also called the Age of Discovery or the Age of Encounter). Students learn about major European explorers, why they explored, and how their actions affected Native Americans.

I’ve made these Age of Exploration activities as easy as possible for busy teachers to implement. From detailed lesson plans to complete answer keys – it's all there. This unit will prepare you to teach about complex topics like Precolumbian Civilizations, the Atlantic slave trade, and the Columbian Exchange.

Even better, I've made it fun!  The 10 lessons are filled with engaging lessons, and students will never do the same activity twice in a row. Your students will absolutely love the Risks of Exploration interactive activity.

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Here's what's included:

Week 1

• Age of Exploration Overview—PowerPoint presentation & KL worksheet
• Meet the European Explorers—Gold, Glory, or God article, informative task cards on famous explorers & student worksheet
• Explorers' Technology & Routes—Foldable about technological advances & map activity where students draw routes of explorers
• The Life of a Sailor—article about sailing during the Age of Exploration, worksheet & identity cards where students adopt the role of a sailor
• Risks of Exploration — interactive activity where students experience the risks of exploration through drawing “fate cards” & a student reflection

Week 2

• Native Americans and Europeans: Part 1—articles for 5 Native American civilizations (Inca, Aztec, Maya, Taino, Iroquois) and resources for students to create posters & presentations
• Native Americans and Europeans: Part 2—rubrics for student presentations and note-taking worksheets
• The Atlantic Slave Trade—informative article, artifacts from the slave trade, and reflection worksheet
• The Columbian Exchange—informative article and interactive notebook sort
• Age of Exploration Reflection—reflection worksheet and discussion instructions

Help for the teacher

• Table of Contents (also available in the preview)
• Suggested pacing guide
• 10 detailed lesson plans
• Answer keys (of course!)
• Editable end-of-unit test and study guide
• Easy printing file with all student worksheets and articles

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This unit also includes DIGITAL ACCESS via Google Slides.*

• I have created a Google Slides resource for each lesson. Each resource contains student instructions, student worksheets with editable text boxes, and articles/task cards if applicable.

Google Slides can be assigned by teachers via Google Classroom. I hope this update will help teachers who are implementing distance learning.

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Why I created this unit

1. I want to make social studies your students’ favorite part of the day.

2. Teachers deserve excellent social studies resources (Can someone please tell our school districts?)

3. Planning complete units is tedious and time-consuming (um... I won’t even tell you how long it took me to create this unit). I want to save teachers precious time so they can focus on doing what they love—teaching!

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What people are saying about this unit:

"This resource was absolutely SO fun to teach. My kids were EXTREMELY engaged throughout the entire process, everything was so fun for them. I loved getting to teach this and experience such fun class times with them." —Marley M. (5th graders)

“This was well worth every penny! I've loved this resource! The students appreciated the variety of activities and I appreciated the versatility of the whole unit. The sources were easy to follow for all of my students and sparked more engagement than I anticipated. There were many opportunities for small group work, independent work, and whole class activities. Very helpful and engaging." —Paige D. (5th graders)

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How can this unit be for grades 5th-8th?

The articles are written at a 7th-8th grade reading level. If you teach one of those grades, your students will be able to complete the activities more or less independently. If you teach 5th or 6th grade, I recommend reading and analyzing the articles with your students. They will do great! Check out the reviews to see how teachers at your grade level have successfully used and loved this unit.

Where can I find more history units?

I have already created units for the following topics:

• Age of Exploration
• 13 Colonies
• Declaration of Independence
• US Constitution
• Early Republic
• Revolutionary War
• Westward Expansion
• Civil War

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Customer Tips:

For samples of what is included, download the preview file. I would love to answer any and all questions about this product. Ask a question by clicking on “Product Q & A”

All of my products are digital and non-refundable. This is a digital file. A physical product will not be shipped. Please make sure you have a way to open: a zip file, PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, and a word document before purchasing.

This product is not editable. The only part of the unit that is editable is the end-of-unit study guide and test. The other elements (like lesson plans, student worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, Google Slides, etc.) are not. The PDFs are password protected. This protects my work as well as the work of graphic and font artists I've purchased from.