Welcome to our interactive web site, Explorers at Sea. At Donald Rheem Elementary in Moraga, California, our fifth grade classes spend months studying early American explorers as part of their social studies curriculum, sometimes known as the Age of Exploration. At the same time, our classes participate in a living history program directed by the San Francisco Maritime Programs on the San Francisco Bay. Both courses of study are designed to bring history to life - to provide students with hands-on experience on board a lumber schooner - coupled with activities in the classroom which are designed to deepen and enrich their knowledge of life at sea.

Our history lessons are woven around our core literature selection, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, a wonderful tale of adventure on the high seas. Math lessons include mastering geographic skills needed by explorers - finding longitude and latitude, measuring temperature, ocean depth, wind speed, and learning bell and 24 hour time.

Enter here and join our classes as they work onboard ships at San Francisco's Hyde Street Pier, learn the nautical arts, sea chanteys, knots, journal writing, write from the perspective of "green" sailor and become an expert on the parts of a ship.
Painting the ensign.
Successful figure eight knots.
Attaching the heaving line.