Columbus Day

Every year around Columbus Day teachers on the message board I subscribe to ask for "cute" ideas for teaching Columbus Day. For some reason, Columbus Day and cute don't belong in the same sentence to me!

What do I do on Columbus Day in the classroom? Nothing special, it is just business as usual in my room. I don't have too much time for anything else.

If I did take the time for it though, I might use the song posted below.

1492

Nancy Schimmel

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue,
It was a courageous thing to do
But someone was already here.

Columbus knew the world was round
So he looked for the East while westward bound,
But he didn't find what he thought he found,
And someone was already here.

Chorus
The Inuit and Cherokee,
The Aztec and Menominee,
The Onandaga and the Cree;
Columbus sailed across the sea,
But someone was already here.

It isn't like it was empty space,
Caribs met him face to face.
Could anyone discover the place
When someone was already here?

Chorus

So tell me, who discovered what?
He thought he was in a different spot.
Columbus was lost, the Caribs were not;
They were already here.

Chorus