Recently my students and I have been reviewing the exciting story of Britain’s first attempt to establish an English colony in the Americas. We know that colony as the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Woven within that story is another exciting one, and although it only occupies two paragraphs in our book, I didn’t want to pass over it. It’s the story of  Sir Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada.

Spanish Armada Ship

Students love tales about pirates, storms at sea and great battles won by the underdog, and I love sharing the story because it demonstrates God’s hand over a queen and a battle to preserve the Protestant faith.

6th Grade Spanish Armada Project

To help cement this story in students’ minds, I created a little project using this fact sheet, a coloring page of Sir Francis Drake, and a construction paper depiction of a ship. Even the boys enjoyed putting it together.

When the project was complete, I hung all the pieces up in the hallway along with a color photo of Francis Drake that I printed from the Internet. I like using pictures of history’s main characters both when I’m initially teaching the story to my students and to help when we’re reviewing. I simply hold up a photo and ask students to tell me whatever they know about the character.