★ Inquiry DBQ Series · Grade 4 · Free
Sailing into the Unknown
Why would anyone sail into the unknown?
A free, ready-to-teach mini-DBQ on Columbus and the Age of Exploration. Students read three short primary sources, sort the evidence into Riches, Religion, and Fame and Power, and write one claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph.
Grade 4Age of ExplorationGoogle Slides2 class periodsFree
License: free for one teacher and their own students.
Get it freeOpens a one-page PDF with your "Make a copy" links to the Google Slides files. You need to be signed in to a Google account.
What's included
- Student DBQ packet (17 pages): hook, background reading with vocabulary, Documents A–C with plain-words versions and questions, Evidence Organizer, bucketing and C.E.R. planner, paragraph page, 16-point rubric, and teacher guide with answer key and a sample paragraph
- Scaffolded version (17 pages): the same documents in plain words, with fill-in-the-blank questions, sentence starters, the same rubric and its own answer key
- How to Use guide: standards, two-day pacing, teaching tips and grading notes
The documents
- Document A: Columbus's 1492 agreement with the king and queen of Spain
- Document B: Columbus's 1493 letter home about his first voyage
- Document C: Marco Polo on the riches of Asia, from a book Columbus owned
All public domain, with full source lines.
Good to know
- Class time
- 2 periods of 45 minutes
- Pages
- 34 total
- Format
- Editable Google Slides
- Rubric and key
- Included
Standards: KAS Grade 4: 4.H.CE.1, 4.E.IC.1, 4.I.UE.1–3