What is Columbus Day? Let’s review history today. Christopher Columbus is an early Italian explorer that discovered America for Spain in 1492. Did you know?

• Columbus Day is a federal holiday in the United States
• Columbus Day celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492
• This day also helps recognize contributions of Americans of Italian descent
• Columbus Day is the second Monday in October each year
• The flag of the United States is displayed on all government buildings on Columbus Day
• This day is observed by banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service, other federal agencies, state government offices, businesses, and most school districts
• Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator
• In 1492, he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the Niña ships alongside, hoping to find a new route to India
• On October 12, 1492, after 36 days of sailing westward across the Atlantic, Columbus and several crewmen set foot on an island in the present-day Bahamas
• On this day, Columbus planted the flag of his sponsors, King Ferdinand, and Queen Isabella of Spain in the new land (the continent of North America)

Homeschoolers-Parents-Educators: sketch/color an illustration. Theme: Discovering new places. Put these words in alphabetical order and use in a sentence: king, Columbus, explorer, navigator, ocean, America.  Finish this sentence: I want to go to …. List three facts about this day. Read the story called The Flying Trunk in Learning to Read: Fairy Tale Adventures. Write about Sven’s many adventures while flying around the world. Share one of your favorite adventures. (Skillset: identify, comprehend, apply, alphabetic order, creativity, history, sentence usage)