Cruise AZ Jr's Report on Captain Cook

[Cruise Arizona]

DS is missing a week of school to go on our Hawaii Cruise. He is in 4th grade and in Social Studies they have been studying the explorers. Instead of making up a week of work the teacher suggested that he do a report on Captain Cook since he was the first European to properly chart Hawaii (the Spanish had probably visited before him, but didn't have the proper tools to chart their longitude.) He sees me here on this board all the time and thought that my fellow CC's would be interested in Captain Cook, and asked me to share his report. So if Anyone care's here's DS report on Captain Cook the first CC.

 

Captain Cook’s Remarkable Voyages

The English wanted to send explorers to find the unknown Southern Continent, and a Northwest Passage. They thought that an unknown Southern Continent balanced the weight of the world. A Northwest Passage would provide a quick, safe way to China. Astronomers wanted to see the transit of Venus, Venus passing between the Earth and the Sun, so they could improve their navigational skills.

The Royal Society picked James Cook to be in charge of the Endeavour because of his mapping skills. In 1768 the Endeavour first went to Rio de Janeiro, and then went around Cape Horn. When Captain Cook got to Tahiti, the Tahitians came and greeted him and gave him breadfruit. The English made a fort called Fort Venus to see the transit of Venus, but a hazy glare spoiled the viewing.

When Cook arrived in New Zealand he discovered the natives were cannibals. The New Zealanders only ate their enemies. They were also speaking the same language that the Tahitians spoke. Cook was fascinated because New Zealand was 3,000 miles from Tahiti.

When Cook landed in Australia, he discovered the people were naked and didn’t take their gifts. The Endeavour crashed into the Great Barrier Reef and a coral reef in the ship’s hull saved the ship. The sailors called a kangaroo “Devil”.

When Cook landed in Batavia, everyone got sick. By the time they landed in England, 76 were dead.

In 1772, Cook left on his 2nd voyage to find the unknown Southern Continent. He went to Tahiti again and also New Zealand again. He also found New Caledonia, Easter Islands, and Cook islands. He sailed past the Antarctic Circle. Instead of a Southern Continent, he found ice. Tahiti changed since Cook’s last voyage. It changed mainly because Purea lost her power. Cook also picked Mai to come back to England with him. Mai was a Polynesian man.

In 1776, Cook left on his 3rd voyage to find a Northwest Passage and to bring Mai home. He went around Africa this time and never went to South America. He went to Tahiti, and New Zealand He visited the Cook Islands and the Friendly Islands. In Tahiti, Cook, his surgeon’s mate, an artist, and Mai witnessed a human sacrifice. The Tahitians wanted to please Oro, their warrior god.

He settled Mai and then went to look for a Northwest Passage and on the way he found Kauai. He traded with the Kauaians and then went on to the northwest seas. He found natives of Alaska. Also, all he found exploration wise was ice and a dead end in the Bering Strait. To get away from the cold weather, he wanted to go back to Kauai, but instead of Kauai, he found the island of Hawaii. When he came it was a time of peace and the Hawaiians worshiped their peaceful god, Lono. They thought that he would come on a floating island and that he would be a white god.They thought that Lono was Cook. They gave him food and berries and had festivals. Then on the day the peace time ended, Feb. 4, Cook left.

Then tragedy struck. Cook’s mast broke and he said to go back to Hawaii. When he was back on Hawaii, the Hawaiians thought that Lono was trying to take over their island because he came when they were supposed to be worshipping their warrior god, Ku. Then Cook went on the island and there was no cheering or bowing and then everyone was surprised. The Hawaiians took a small boat and Cook was planning to trade the chief for the boat. When Cook went ashore this time, he shot a man and then a whole bunch of Hawaiians gathered. Some came after Cook. When Cook thought there was a Hawaiian about to kill him he shot again. This time the Hawaiians did come after him. He was clubbed and then a Hawaiian killed him by stabbing in the back again and again and again and again.

Cook’s crew again went to find the Northwest Passage and they had no luck and then went back to England. When the crew got back, they without their leader. The English were very sad that Cook had died. Everyone will remember Cook, even now. He was a great explorer, a good cartographer, and a leader. He cared about his crew on his voyages making sure that they had a good ship, kept clean and proper nutrition.

[CarpeCruzem]

WOW! Please thank Cruise AZ, Jr. for a wonderful and comprehensive report! It will come in very handy for our upcoming Summit Christmas cruise to Hawaii.

 

Carpe

 

P.S. I'm a professional lurker, and I absolutely LOVE and admire your fashion sense, Cruise Az!

[trcori]

the report! I too have a cruisin' 4th grader, though he won't be sailing again till our Galaxy Panama Canal cruise in April. He'll also miss a week of school for the first half of that (then it's his official spring break week for the second half). I haven't minded taking him out of school a bit for traveling because I still have fond memories of a canal/Caribbean/South America/Mexico cruise for which I missed an entire MONTH back in sixth grade! -- TR

[Cruise Arizona]

A year ago when I booked the cruise I had some missgivings about the kids missing school. Both kids are doing well in school, but I was worried about them finding time to make up the missed work.

 

Their teachers have been so open to the idea of travel it self being a learning opportunity. During the mid sememster parent teacher conferences I talked with his Social Studies teacher and we came up with the idea of him learning about Cook. What she is going to do is substitute his grade for his Cook report for the work that he would do that week. His homeroom teacher has him for the rest of his subjects, so he is doing a travel journal for her and a report on Volcanos. He has to write atleast 5 sentances a day in his journal during the two week trip. I think that that will help create a wonderful memory book for him. They are also starting a unit on oceans, so he can write about ocean related ideas and take pictures of important ocean stuff.

 

My daughter has just two assignments. She has been making mistakes in her map reading, so she has maps of each island, has to number the places we visit, and then number pictures of each location that correspond to her numbers on the map. She also has to write a travel journal.

 

I am so thrilled that they don't have to bring along work-books and have to do Math pages or work sheets. I think this approach is much more educational to the children in the long run.

 

Heck I learned alot about Polynesia and Cook too. When I was searching for a book for my son to read at the library, the first one I found was very thourough biography in the Adult Non-Fiction section. He gave that one a shot, but it was really just too hard for him. We found a very through biography in the juvenille section. It had more pictures, and contained pretty much the same information as the larger volume, just in simpler language. So I read the grown-up book while he read the kids book. I knew that the Maori of New Zealand were related to the Tahistians, but I didn't realize that they spoke a similar language and could actually coverse with each-other pretty easily. It was also interesting to get a detailed account of how Cook died.

[Cruise Arizona]

double post