Urban Exploration, City Spelunking, a History-Lovers Dream

Warning: do not read unless you want to become instantly obsessed. We're history and travel buffs in my family. We homeschooled our four kids starting in 1995. Since I'm a hands-on kind of teacher, a get out and do gal, I taught my kids on the "I hear, I forget, I see I remember, I do, I learn" mantra. Every outing is an adventure and every adventure a lesson. 

Recently on Youtube we urban spelunking. That's where intrepid (slightly crazy) people explore defunct (or not) urban structures like regular spelunkers explore caves. Sometimes the places are abandoned, like the rocket storage facility in the Florida everglades. The documentary "Into the Darkness" touched on the discovery of a ginormous rocket left in a mine shaft in the 1960s.  The image on the left is an old, abandoned (queue spine-tingles) amusement park. While it might not be safe to explore broken down buildings, you can research the history. You can visit places with an eye to the background. Teach kids to watch for details of old architecture, sealed off rooms, basement structures, etc.

Free Printable Marco Polo Lesson Plans, Kubla Khan, Silk Road, Spice Road

Follow the 13th century trail of Marco Polo into the legendary Mongolian kingdom of the Kubla Khan and discover the wonder of spice, silk, tea, ivory, jade and porcelain as well as the hospitality of a true oriental nobleman, the Khan. Information based on Il Milione (the diary of Marco Polo's travels). Games, crafts, interactive and cross curricular activities, free printable lesson plans. Includes literature, poetry, science, economics and social studies lessons. 

In the 1200s, Marco Polo traveled in medieval times to explore the magical Xanadu, summer palace of the Mongol leader Kubla Khan (son of Ghengis Khan). Polo brought back exotic spices, jade, silk and strange beasts (elephants) to the western world. His travels ushered in the Silk Road and Spice Road trade systems. Marco Polo wrote about his travels in "Il Milione" or "The Travels of Marco Polo." Read his biography in social studies and have students create a character map for interactive biography lesson plans. 

For geography and history lesson plans, follow the travels of Marco Polo. Here's a freeprintable map of the Marco Polo expedition, which became the Silk Road. Expand it and attach it to a cheap roll up window shade to make a Silk Road map for social studies lesson plans. Have students color and label map and make icons to symbolize elements of the Marco Polo story. 

For biography, literature and culture lesson plans, explore the history of Kublai Khan and the rise of the Mongol Empire under Ghengis Khan. Have students create a Facebook profile for Marco Polo, Ghengis or Kublai Khan to put their lives into modern perspective.

Mr. Donn offers free printable Marco Polo lesson plans and activities on the Mongol Empire and Kublai Khan, geared for lower elementary to middle school students. ABC teach has free printable MarcoPolo lessons. Activities cover Kublai Khan, Xanadu and the travels in the Mongol Empire. These lessons work well students in grades 4-8. 

Here's a more descriptive discussion on Xanadu andMongol Empire with re-enactors dressed in Mongolian battle dress and villagers costumes. There are images of artifacts from the Kublai Khan dynasty which students could make replicas of. Last, for creative writing and art lesson plans, have students draw what they imagine the Mongol Empire and Kublai Khan may have looked like using Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Xanadu, the Ballad of Kubla Khan. This would be perfect literature lesson plans for National Poetry Month in April.