Lesson Plan - The Search for Endurance

Watch a Video: The Search for a Sunken Ship

After watching, ask: How did the team know where to look for the Endurance?

Preview Words to Know

Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

• frigid
• determined

Set a Purpose for Reading

Have students compare and contrast Mensun Bound’s mission and Shackleton’s 1914 expedition.

1. Why did Bound need a submersible? He needed a submersible, or underwater vehicle, because the seafloor where the Endurance sank is too cold and deep for divers to survive.

^{(RI.3.3 CAUSE AND EFFECT)}

2. What details help show that Bound and his team were determined to find the Endurance? The article explains that Bound and his team planned the trip for months and sailed for 40 days before they found the Endurance. Even though they failed to locate the ship on their first few tries, they did not give up.

^{(RI.3.8 TEXT CONNECTIONS)}

3. Summarize the main ideas in the section “Caught on Video.” This section is about how Bound and his team made maps and videos of the Endurance to share. Now museums will be able to make life-sized models of the ship.

^{(RI.3.2 MAIN IDEA)}

FEATURED SKILL: Key Details

Use the Skill Builder “The 5 W’s (and 1 H)” to help students answer the nonfiction comprehension questions who, what, where, when, why, and how about the article. 

^{(RI.3.2 KEY DETAILS)}