Columbus Day Worksheets
Columbus Day is a federal holiday recognized by the United States government. It takes place on the second Monday of every October. It was originally intended to commemorate the 1492 landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas. It began to be celebrated across the country as early as the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was formally made a federal holiday in 1937. Since Columbus was an Italian born explorer, the holiday often coincides with Italian American Heritage events and celebrations. As historians investigated the practices of Columbus and the motivations form the formation of the holiday there has been a great deal of controversy as to whether this should be something to celebrate at all. There is a growing collective that wishes to have this holiday renamed Indigenous People's Day to commemorate the cultures that were present before the European migration.
Grammar Worksheets:
True or False - See what you know about this explore and what people were thinking back then.
Vocabulary - Put these Columbus Day words in alphabetical order.
Word Play - How many words can you make out of
the letters that spell Happy Columbus
Day? Write as many words as you can on
the lines below.
Reading Comprehension Worksheets:
Find the Americas - How do you think Columbus felt when he spotted land after his long
ocean voyage?
Puzzle Worksheets:
Word Find - Find the words from the Word Box in the puzzle.
The Ships - Name all the ships in the fleet and color them if you would like.
Unscramble and Write - Unscramble the words. Then use the words in a paragraph
that tells what Columbus Day is about.
Writing Worksheets:
Should We Celebrate It? - Take a
position on the topic and write a persuasive paragraph to support
your position. Use the back of the page if you need more space.
Sentence Writing - Draw a picture and then tell us what is going on in your mind.
Poem Writing - Write an acrostic poem about explorers. For each
letter, write words or phrases relating to Columbus
Day that begins with the letter on that line.
Discovery Journal - Imagine you sailed with Columbus in 1492. Write a
journal entry about what the trip was like.
What is Indigenous Peoples' Day?
The day is used to honor and recognize the past, present, and future Native people across the United States. The holiday acknowledges the impact of colonialism on these communities. It is meant to honor and help bring awareness of the Native American culture, contribution to society, and their people's sheer resilience to adversity. This is a day of observance that is slowly, but surely replacing Columbus Day. Many local and regional areas have begun to outright change what they observe on the second Monday of October.
As historians have reviewed the actions of Christopher Columbus and his explorations, they realized that we have our history all wrong for quite some time now. Columbus never even set foot on the continent of North America. He caused chaos in the Caribbean and assaulted and enslaved countless people along the way. His image was made squeaky clean in history books, many academics are realizing that texts have romanticized his history for centuries. As a result, the academic world is calling on politicians to review their history and recognize another culture.
Since 1977 more and more US states and cities have begun to not only recognize this holiday, observe it locally. As neighboring areas begin to understand why such a transformation is taking place, we would expect this trend to continue. Well over six-hundred native nations are active in the United States. Two-percent of the population of the united States identifies themselves as Native American.