---
title: Early Explorers
created: '2026-05-26'
updated: '2026-05-26'
type: lesson_topic
subject: history
tags:
- history
- grade-2
- homeschool
standard: ''
phase: 2
phase_name: "WINTER: American History Foundations (Weeks 9\u201316)"
weeks:
- 11
source: ''
---

# Early Explorers

Second grade history topic covering early explorers. Part of Phase 2 (WINTER: American History Foundations (Weeks 9–16)).

## Key Concepts
First European explorers of North America
- **Objectives:** Identify key explorers and their voyages
- **Activities:**
  - Christopher Columbus — who was he and when?
  - John Cabot, Hernando de Soto, Francisco Coronado
  - Follow their routes on a map
- **Assessment:** Map with explorer routes labeled

### Week 12: The First Colonists
**Focus:** Why people came to America
- **Objectives:** Understand reasons for colonization (freedom, resources, land)
- **Activities:**
  - Story of the Mayflower and Plymouth Colony
  - Jamestown — the first permanent colony
  - Discuss what life was like for colonists
- **Assessment:** Write/draw about one colony and describe daily life there

### Week 13: The Thirteen Colonies
**Focus:** Growth of colonial America
- **Objectives:** Locate the 13 colonies,  understand regions (New England, Middle, Southern)
- **Activities:**
  - Map the 13 colonies
  - Compare life in different colony regions
  - Discuss how colonies made their own rules
- **Assessment:** Label 13 colonies map,  compare two colony regions

### Week 14: Colonial Daily Life
**Focus:** What colonial children did
- **Objectives:** Compare colonial childhood to modern childhood
- **Activities:**
  - Colonial school, games, chores, food
  - Read "The Story of the Pilgrim Children"
  - Colonial crafts: spinning, candle making, writing with quills
- **Assessment:** Venn diagram — colonial life vs. modern life

### Week 15: The Road to Independence
**Focus:** Why colonists wanted independence from England
- **Objectives:** Understand unfair taxes and "no taxation without representation"
- **Activities:**
  - Boston Tea Party story
  - Stamp Act — what was it and why were colonists angry?
  - Paul Revere and the midnight ride
- **Assessment:** Explain in own words why colonists wanted freedom from England

### Week 16: American Revolution Overview
**Focus:** Key events and people of the Revolution
- **Objectives:** Identify the American Revolution as a war for independence
- **Activities:**
  - Declaration of Independence — what does it say?
  - George Washington as leader
  - Timeline of Revolution events
- **Assessment:** Revolution event timeline (5 key events in order)

---

## Standards
Not specified

## Prerequisites
[[my-neighborhood]], [[community-helpers]], [[rules-and-why-we-have-them]], [[buying-and-selling]], [[maps-and-directions]]

## Related Topics
[[native-american-tribes]], [[native-american-life-culture]]

---
*Generated from curriculum data*  ^[[raw/curriculum/history]]