Curriculum:
Essential Questions for Spanish

GRADE 4: Why do we explore and what do we find?

Spanish exploration in the Caribbean and the U.S.

•  What is an explorer?
•  Who were the explorers and what were they like?
•  Why did they explore?
•  What did they find when the arrived and what did they bring with them?
•  What is the geography of the Caribbean?

Geography

•  What are the major landforms of the U.S.?
•  What are the Spanish influences on the names of states, cities and landforms? •  What are the names of the regions?

Housing

•  What influences have the explorers left on the homes of today?
•  What types of homes did the indigenous people live in?
•  What are the characteristics of a traditional Spanish home?
•  What are the characteristics of a contemporary home?

Games & Sports (sample curricular unit and lesson plan)

•  What indigenous sports did the explorers find?
•  What sports or activities do the students think were played during the time of Spanish Exploration?
•  What sports are the most popular? Why?
•  What sports are played in each season?
•  What are the seasons of the year?

Transportation: How do you get there?

•  What types of transportation did the explorers use?
•  What are our most popular types of transportation?
•  What do we think the transportation of the future might be?

Space: The final frontier

•  What is the newest type of exploration?
•  If you could design a new planet, what might we find there?