This week was one I have been looking forward to for a long time.  I always loved studying the explorers as a kid and I was excited to be sharing some of my favourite memories of learning about all of these great and courageous people.  I decided to have a 'film festival' of great explorer movies to really grab the kids' interest.  I started with a wonderful resource that may be available to you or your school board called 'Learn 360'.  This comprehensive site has compiled thousands of videos on every imaginable topic and includes hundreds of movies about the explorers.  The magic of the site is that they've tied it to the curriculum standards, so you know you're not going to be viewing anything inappropriate.  I took a chronological approach, beginning with a short summary of the exploring accomplishments of the vikings and ending with a talk about modern explorers of the oceans and space.  The students formulated great questions to guide their inquiries such as "why were all the explorers men?" and "would the New World have been better off without having been discovered".  Next came a classic 'pick your explorer' research project, but we're doing it with a twist using our Smartboard software and Keynote.  Fantastic stuff so far!