First Voyage of Columbus

This worksheet is designed for students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 to strengthen reading comprehension, historical analysis, and geographic understanding through an informational passage about Christopher Columbus’s first voyage. Learners read about the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa María, examine why Columbus believed he reached Asia, explore the origins of the term “Indians,” and analyze what actually occurred upon landing in the Bahamas, building a clearer picture of early European exploration.

Learning Goals

• Exploration of the Americas (Grades 4-6) – Students identify key facts about Columbus’s first voyage, ships, and landing sites.
• Reading for Key Details & Main Ideas – Learners extract important information from an informational text.
• Historical Thinking & Perspective – Encourages analysis of misconceptions, assumptions, and cultural interactions.
• Geographic Understanding – Reinforces knowledge of exploration routes, destinations, and world geography.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Developed by educators to align with upper-elementary social studies and ELA standards.
• Mixed Question Formats – Includes multiple-choice questions for detail recall and short-answer questions for deeper analysis.
• Supports Critical Discussion – Prompts thinking about European reactions, crew experiences, and historical misunderstandings.
• Low-Prep & Printable – Easy to implement for classwork, review, assessments, or homeschool instruction.

This printable worksheet helps students deepen comprehension of early exploration by combining factual reading with thoughtful analysis. By examining Columbus’s first voyage and responding to both objective and open-ended questions, learners strengthen historical reasoning, reading skills, and geographic awareness. Suitable for classroom or homeschool use, this activity provides a balanced and engaging approach to studying early European exploration.

This worksheet is part of our Columbus Day Worksheets collection.