Year 2's Mysterious Mission!

This term we are looking at fantastic explorers in Year two! At the moment we are looking at Christopher Columbus. The children received an exciting letter and a suitcase filled with clues and interesting objects. The class had great fun guessing what the clues might mean and what they were for and looking closely at the objects they found. The clues were a picture of Santa, the number 3, an ocean, America, the Spanish flag and a compass.

'I think it might be about a man called Columbus' Charlie T

'Maybe Columbus had to travel on a pirates ship' Freddie J

'I think they were on a boat and they traveled across the Atlantic ocean' Katlyn

'There was a globe and a compass- someone went travelling' Jacob

'Maybe Santa Claus went travelling with Columbus around the world' Maisie

'I think it might have taken him 3 years to travel' Peter

The children came very close to solving the clues through their reflective questioning and collaboration with other children in their class. Next, we used Ipads and books to research Christopher Columbus to see if the children's predictions were correct. Here are some of the interesting facts we discovered:

• Christopher Columbus was born on October 31, 1451 in Genoa, Italy.
• He began sailing when he was just a teenager. 
• He took his first voyage into the Atlantic Ocean in 1476.
• Columbus settled in Lisbon and married Filipa Moniz Perestrelo, before moving to Spain to live. 
• Columbus presented his idea of sailing west to find new trade routes to the Portuguese king who rejected it. He presented his ideas in Genoa and Venice, but the governments there said no too. He finally went to the Spanish monarchy. Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand initially refused, but later agreed to help him. They gave him the money to buy three ships – the Santa 
• Maria, the Nina and the Pinta.
• For a long time, most people believed that Christopher Columbus was the first explorer to "discover" America- but it has come to light that Vikings were there before. It is more accurate to say that he discovered it for the Western Europeans, who until then, didn't know of it.
• Columbus died in 1506.