Explorers on the Map Workbook — Middle School (Grades 5–8)

Ten true voyages, from the Vikings to Captain Cook, written for middle school readers (Grades 5–8, ages 10–14). 80 pages.

Causes and effects, the people who already lived where the ships landed, and how we know. Each unit: a route map with map tasks, key words to match, a reading, 10 multiple-choice questions, a fill-in-the-blank with a mixed word bank, a timeline, three think-and-write questions and a short primary source with questions.

The stories name the people who already lived where the explorers landed and say plainly where historians still disagree.

Units:

1. Leif Erikson
2. Zheng He
3. Christopher Columbus
4. John Cabot
5. Vasco da Gama
6. Amerigo Vespucci
7. Pedro Álvares Cabral
8. Ferdinand Magellan
9. Francis Drake
10. James Cook

Ends with a “compare them all” chart, a big-question writing page and the answer key.

Multiple choice done fairly: the right letters are spread evenly over A, B, C and D, never three of one letter in a row, and the right answer is not usually the longest one, so guessing patterns don’t work. The word banks are mixed: some words don’t fit anywhere.

Every unit matches a free map tour on getridoftheteacher.com — a little ship sails the real route on a satellite map and tells the story — and the same questions are free as online quizzes at getridoftheteacher.com/history-quiz. Watch, then work.

Printable PDF, US Letter, answer key at the back. Instant download. Print and copy as often as you like for one home or one classroom.

Standards: Massachusetts History and Social Science Framework (2018): 3.T3, 4.T3.1–3, WHI.T4.10, WHI.T5.1–4; England’s National Curriculum (significant individuals, chronology, sources and interpretations).