Discovering Great Explorers of the Renaissance

(6 customer reviews)

$9.95

The Renaissance was an age of exploration and discovery, and what explorers found changed the world in many ways, both good and bad. With Discovering Great Explorers of the Renaissance, a publisher-approved Notebook Companion™ to The Renaissance Explorers (sold separately), your students can learn about the lives of five men who changed the world through their work and discoveries.

164 black and white pages | for grades 5 and up | This is a digital only resource.

The Renaissance Explorers by Nomad Press is sold separately.


*Digital Product - purchase one per household only.

Discovering Great Explorers of the Renaissance

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During the Renaissance, much of the world as we know it today had either not been discovered or had not been deeply explored. Courageous explorers set out to learn what lay beyond the known. Some did it for noble reasons, others did it for profit, and some did it for a combination of reasons. Your students can meet five such individuals with our no-prep, open-and-go Notebook Companion™.

Just grab a copy of The Renaissance Explorers (sold separately), our Notebook Companion™, and a pen or pencil and get ready for adventures around the world. With this unit, your kids can meet:

  • Niccolò de’ Conti
  • Bartolomeu Dias
  • Vasco da Gama
  • PĂŞro da CovilhĂŁ
  • Ferdinand Magellan

What’s Included

Through engaging text, students will learn about the lives of these five men and what they discovered. They’ll have the opportunity to sketch, develop their written narration skills by answering our open-ended questions, and choose from a large variety of additional, optional projects to complete such as:

  • completing map work assignments related to each explorer
  • creating a timeline of each individual’s life
  • creating a master timeline covering all the people in the unit
  • completing glossary pages for building vocabulary skills
  • copying quotes by or about each individual to create journal pages
  • trying various hands-on projects
  • illustrating scenes comic book-style from the lives of the key figures
  • completing a biography sheet for each individual

Discovering Great Explorers of the Renaissance notebooking pages

In addition to learning about the key figures covered, they can also learn about explorer Zheng He, what life was like as a squire or a sailor, and much more.

Additional notebooking pages are included for going even deeper, and an Answers Index is also provided.

The Renaissance Explorers by Alicia Z. Klepeis, Published by Nomad Press

Our Notebook Companion™ accompanies The Renaissance Explorers, published by Nomad Press and sold separately. Discovering Great Explorers of the Renaissance Notebook Companion™ was created with the publisher’s permisson.

The Renaissance Explorers by Nomad Press

Who were the Renaissance explorers? How did they change the world?

Being a Renaissance explorer wasn’t just exciting and rewarding; it was also challenging and dangerous. Explorers in the Age Of Exploration had to face many obstacles and dangers as they ventured into uncharted territories. Some explorers got sick, while others fought with natives over control of the land. Without the efforts of these Renaissance explorers, the world would probably be very different today!

Readers ages 10 through 15 learn about the lives of five famous explorers, including Nicolaus Copernicus, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da GAMA, Pedro Alvares Cabral, and Ferdinand Magellan. They also discover how these explorers’ journeys began and ended, and how they influenced the world around them.

The Renaissance Explorers is more than just a book to read! Included are 10 hands-on STEAM activities, fun facts, great illustrations, and links to online resources to further study the Renaissance period.

6 reviews for Discovering Great Explorers of the Renaissance

  1. Jolie Simmons

    The book, The Renaissance Explorers, which goes along with this notebook, is written with the 10-15 year old in mind. The layout is full of great text features, spacing, font size, photos and info squares.

    The Notebook is perfectly broken up in both its reading and lesson size for this age range. Though, my special needs boys 6th and 8th do require I break up some of the lesson in half. But this is not difficult as the spacing and lay out of the text and notebook are easy to follow.

    We usually work together as a family taking turns reading as they write their answers. They have also worked at separate times from each other independently through a lesson.
    At times, I do need to dictate for my 6th grader. I only wish the notebook was compatible as a fill in on computer.

    We have all enjoyed picking different things to do from the the wrapping up sections. I look forward to working though “The Renaissance Thinkers” and anticipate it being much the same.

    Jolie

  2. Tamara Lowrey

    These notebooking pages are all you need to turn each chapter of The Renaissance Explorers into a unit study. For each chapter these notebooking pages provide prompts to help your student narrate what they just read (or heard) and to dive deeper into the concepts and vocabulary covered. If you want them to review the chapter in order to answer any questions they missed, the answer key in the notebook companion doesn’t just spell the answers out but gives a page reference for where to find the answer in the book. This is great for both moms who are reading the book aloud and for students who are going through the book independently. If you’ve ever tried to create your own notebooking pages—by reading ahead to come up with the questions on your own—you know that the task can become overwhelming. For me, I feel that I can rest assured knowing that Daily Skill Building always chooses quality, living books to build their notebook companions around. But if you’re not familiar with the book (The Renaissance Explorers) and on the fence about buying it, there’s a great flip-through on YouTube by Carriage House Homeschool that can give you a closer look.

  3. Denise Rodriguez

    This Notebook Companion goes along with the book The Renaissance Explorers: With History Projects for Kids
    By Alicia Z. Klepeis. It says for Grades 5 and up, however my 4th grader is LOVING this one alongside her older sibling. Like all the Notebook Companions on this website, this followed along so well with book. The questions flow well with the reading and if my kids are unsure there is an Answer Key that gives the page number and paragraph to help. The book has QR codes which we loved to explore topics further. The Time line is a favorite and I like that I can enlarge it to print so we can make it bigger for writing and place it on the wall. There is a nice Glossary, addtional notebook pages, and a Master Timeline at the back of the Notebook Companion. Highly recommend this one!!

  4. Lynn

    “Discovering Great Explorers of the Renaissance” is fantastic and the perfect companion to the book, “The Renaissance Explorers.” It is packed full of exciting things to discover and learn! The activities are varied and engaging and promote creativity. They include comprehension questions, open questions, summarising, writing a journal, copywork, building a glossary, fun drawing/illustrating assignments, map work, and creating a time line.

    I appreciate the note to parents at the start of the notebook companion that highlights sections in the book that you may want to review beforehand to ensure suitability for your child or to address with them in your own way. The explanatory note on notebooking is also very helpful and will help your child to get the most out of the companion notebook, with further ideas and suggestions for customising your journal. Lastly, the Answers Index, which provides the location of the answers in the text book, is handy.

    I recommend!

  5. Melanie Zorr

    I am LOVING this new resource! This notebook companion goes so well with the book The Renaissance Explorers. It includes a timeline, glossary, projects to try along with resources to dive more deeply into the Renaissance time period. The notebook is set up chapter by chapter with questions relating to various parts of each chapter. At the back of the notebook, there is an answer index. This answer index is neat in that it tells you WHERE to find the answer to the question such as p. 42 para 2. This forces the kids to actually do the research. This is a great way to introduce how to research subjects of interests. This is perfect for 5th grade students and up. My 5th grader always questions everything, and I am so excited to start the research process with him in preparations for writing research papers down the road.

  6. Katherine Tanyu

    Is your child the following:

    A history buff
    An independent worker
    Writer / creative with the pen

    If yes, this notebooking companion is a good addition to your homeschool. “Discovering Great Explorers of the Renaissance” covers the book “The Renaissance Explorers” completely–I especially liked the Wrapping Up portions (it goes well with my box-checker personality!).

    The Answers Index at the end is very helpful, so I do not need to go search for the answers myself. The text says it is for grades 5 and up, but I think that lower grade levels (not yet independent students) can also benefit from the book and notebooking companion because the topic of explorers is so fun and interesting!

    The master timeline at the end makes the explorers coherent with each other. There is a little challenge with regards to the mapwork as it is very blank–student needs to research and check out other maps. A little challenge is always welcome–this can be an opportunity to really reinforce geography in the subject.

    Overall, I recommend this notebooking companion. It definitely makes the parent/teacher’s life easier, erasing questions like how do we discuss the book, how do I check comprehension, etc.

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