Compare current maps of the world to explorers' maps to help fifth-graders learn map skills. Ask them what kind of information they can gather from an explorer's map, and how the maps are different from modern maps. For example, students can compare Diego Gutierrez's 1562 map of the Western Hemisphere to current maps of the same region. Gutierrez was a royal Spanish cartographer who based his map on the many late 13th and early 14th century Spanish and Portuguese explorations. In addition to topography, his map includes drawings of native people and animals, sea monsters and shipwrecks. Have students consider the purposes of the 1592 and current maps, then ask them to speculate about the reasons for the maps' similarities and differences. This will help them learn to consider purpose and context when reading maps.
Explorers' maps can provide a great introduction to writing adventure narratives. In fact, an authentic explorer's map can help students generate ideas for creative writing pieces such as short stories or explorer's journals. You also can have them study explorers' maps and historical fiction that includes places on the map. For example, have students investigate the maps of the famous American explorers Lewis and Clark, many of which are available on PBS' website. Then ask them to do some Internet research using the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation website. Students can base their historical fiction on the real-life exploits of these famous explorers.
If your students need to practice reading, not writing, have them look at explorers' maps before reading excerpts from the explorers' journals or fiction about explorers. Have them predict what will happen in the narratives based on what they see in the map, or have them chart the storyline of the map itself. An explorer's map charts a story with a beginning, middle and end and often suggests conflict. For example, give students a map of Spanish explorer Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca's journeys in Mexico and the American Gulf Coast. Ask students what they think happened to Cabeza de Vaca before having them read excerpts from his accounts, also available from PBS.
Reproducing explorers' maps is a fun art project that teaches elementary school students to practice drawing small-scale objects. It also can help them learn note-taking skills they can use in high school and beyond, when they will need to copy instructors' diagrams and charts into their notes. Have students look at explorers' original maps, like Samuel de Champlain's 1607 map of the New England and Canadian coast, and try their best to copy them. Students also can make art that reinforces what they have learned about explorers, their journeys and their impact. For example, Crayola's website contains a lesson for making a papier-mache globe that charts the travels of world explorers.