Today we reviewed some of the terms and ideas that we talked about yesterday. We reviewed the meaning of history, geography, and cartographer, and we reviewed why Vespucci was important. We discussed what it means to be a historian and why it is important to look at all aspects of the past and to ask questions. I told them that because they are learning about the past, they are historians. Anna and Quinn learned more about Christopher Columbus today. We watched a video on BrainPop that explained some of the controversies surrounding his treatment of the natives. We discussed why it is important to look at both the positive and the negative aspects of history. I then had them complete an activities worksheet that traced Columbus' route from Spain to the Caribbean. These worksheets are in their social studies folders. We ended class by discussing the differences between primary and secondary sources. We looked at some primary documents online (documents written by/made by people who were at a particular event). We looked at and read a letter written by someone who witnessed the murder of Abraham Lincoln. This really seemed to capture their imagination and they both asked very intelligent questions. We will continue looking at the differences between primary and secondary sources next week.