Standard 1: Finding Meaning

Students will explore Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how generative AI models use Large Language Models (LLMs) and Natural Language Processing NLP to generate outputs. This grades 4-5 lesson is an integrated Computer Science, ELA and Math lesson designed for application of math and ELA content knowledge while exploring and using computational thinking to understand how generative AI works, making cross-curricular connections to understand emerging technologies.

Type: Lesson Plan

In lesson 3 of the integrated civics unit on the book Florida by Tamra Orr students will learn the key vocabulary terms public service and volunteerism. Students will use central idea and relevant details from the text to complete a graphic organizer with features of Florida, related needs & problems, related public service roles, and volunteer opportunities.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use word maps to differentiate between the three branches of government and become more familiar with the vocabulary. They will be tasked with creating a short comic strip depicted themselves teaching their understanding.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is #2 of an integrated unit using the text, Florida, by Tamra Orr. Using chapter 1 of the text, Florida, by Tamra Orr issues specific to Florida are explored. Students work in groups to identify issues that could become problems. Students then brainstorm ways that citizens could help and begin making connections with volunteerism and working with state and local government officials to resolve issues.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is the first in a unit using the text Florida, by Tamra Orr. Students focus on understanding and using key concepts such as citizen, public issue, and taxation. Students then make connections to the impact that public issues such as taxation, transportation, schools, etc. have on their own lives, such as hurricane damage, non-native species, endangered and protected species, beach erosion, and so forth.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is lesson five of a civics integration unit that covers the text Florida by Tamra Orr. Students will record and analyze text features as they gain knowledge regarding the purposes and functions of the branches of government in this lesson.

This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson plan, students will utilize direct instruction, guided-inquiry, and the internet to recognize that Florida has a representative government, identify their state representatives, and to explain elected representatives' authority to perform the duties and activities of their job in a representative form of government. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will practice their oral presentation skills while sharing their opinion about a given classroom topic requiring a vote. In this lesson, students will gain a better understanding of the importance of voting. After being presented with three choices on a classroom topic, students will use a graphic organizer to structure their ideas and details, then share their oral presentations within a small group of peers. Afterwards, students will cast a vote on the classroom topic.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will read an informational picture book about a community in Africa that plants mangrove trees to help the community. Students will use a variety of strategies to determine the meaning of selected academic words in context. Students will also identify and describe the central idea and relevant details used throughout the book in order to write a summary paragraph.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will determine the point of view of each paragraph and rewrite each paragraph in another point of view. They will also explain how changing the point of view changes the paragraph. Several student and teacher handouts are provided with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will identify and describe first person point of view, as well as third person limited, objective, and omniscient points of view. Several student and teacher handouts are provided with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn to determine the universal theme of a story. They will first identify the problem and solution of a story and use that information to determine the theme or author's message, and from there, they will determine the universal theme. Finally, they will compare and contrast the text with another story with a similar theme. This lesson uses the texts Indian Children's Favorite Stories retold by Rosemarie Somaiah and Filipino Children's Favorite Stories retold by Liana Romulo.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson on Aesop's Fable "The Lost Wig" will provide students the opportunity to share and discuss their ideas of the fable’s theme. Students will work together in cooperative pairs to determine the theme "The Lost Wig." They will also have the opportunity to add on to the ending of "The Lost Wig" to enhance the theme.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson consists of students reading a challenging text, "Civil Rights on a City Bus," about Rosa Parks. This text requires students to determine the claims made in the article by the author and the reasons and evidence used to support them. Students will also have a chance to use context clues to define vocabulary words within the text and answer text-dependent questions. Upon completion of the reading activities, students will write a short response that provides evidence to prove each claim made by the author.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use idioms to explain a plot and predict what will happen next in a story. The featured text for this lesson is the book In a Pickle and Other Funny Idioms by Marvin Terba. There are also two practice passages provided with the resource.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the third of three lessons in a fourth grade unit on characters. Students will identify and describe how the relationship between the protagonist and antagonist affects the plot. The teacher modeling and guided practice uses the story Hansel and Gretel retold by Rika Lesser. The other lessons in this unit are attached as related CPALMS resources.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this resource, students will interpret the meanings of poems using similes and metaphors. The featured resource in the teacher modeling and guided practice sections utilize the text Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes edited by David Roessel and Arnold Rampersad. The poem (not a Langston Hughes poem) for the independent practice is provided with the lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the second lesson in a fourth grade unit on characters. Students will identify and describe the antagonist in a story using text evidence. The lesson uses Hansel and Gretel retold by Rika Lesser in the teacher modeling and guided practice. The other lessons in this unit have been attached as related CPALMS resources.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is the first lesson in a fourth grade unit on characters. Students will identify and describe the protagonist in a story using text evidence. The lesson uses Hansel and Gretel retold by Rika Lesser in the teacher modeling and guided practice. The other lessons in this unit have been attached as related CPALMS resources.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will engage students in discussions that involve conceptual understanding of vocabulary, theme, and summarizing. After reading a short fable, "The North Wind and the Sun" by Aesop, students will complete activities that require them to think deeply, make inferences based on textual evidence, and defend their interpretation during discussions. Students will use context clues, word relationships, and/or figurative language to determine word meaning and unfamiliar phrasing. Students will participate in a class discussion evaluating conceptual understandings, examining themes, and making inferences. Students will engage in student-to-student discourse and partner work throughout the lesson. For the summative assessment, students will write a summary to convey understandings presented in the text and the discussions with their peers.

Type: Lesson Plan

Learn how to recognize idioms and explain their meanings as you complete this interactive, magic-themed tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

In this activity, students will identify the meaning of roots while playing a match game. As an extension activity, students will use roots to create words.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will make words containing affixes and use them in a sentence to show meaning while playing an affix game.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will determine and record the meanings of words with affixes. They will then sort them by affix meaning.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will segment words into base words and affixes to determine the meaning.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will make words to match meanings by combining base words and affixes.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will match affixes to their meanings by playing a memory game.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will match homophones with their meanings by playing a card game.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will read two meanings and write the matching homograph.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will match antonyms by playing a memory game.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify antonyms by playing a domino game.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify synonyms by playing a bingo-like game.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will produce the multiple meanings of words and use the words in sentences that demonstrate understanding of the multiple meanings.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify words to complete analogies.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will demonstrate a deeper understanding of the meaning of words by completing a questionnaire.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will produce category labels for related words to demonstrate understanding of their shared attributes/meanings.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will produce categories and corresponding words. As an adaptation to this activity, the students may sort teacher-selected words into categories and produce a category heading based on shared attributes OR produce words that belong in teacher-selected categories (based on units of study).

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will state words that correspond to specific categories by playing a board game. NOTE: A blank game board is provided to allow teachers to create categories relevant to classroom instruction. As an extension, students may choose the word that does not belong in a set of words and name the category for the remaining words.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify the meaning of words in context.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify similarities and differences between the meanings of words using a Venn diagram.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will read sentences containing context clues and sort by the type of context clue.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will depict words by drawing pictures that relate to their meaning.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify the meaning of words and word-related information using a dictionary.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will look up target words in a dictionary and record specific information.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will determine the meanings of unknown words using context clues.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify words with common roots and related meanings and sort them on a sorting board.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will find Hink Pinks that correspond to meanings by playing a matching game.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will match homographs with their corresponding meanings.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will sort words based on their understanding of the words' meanings. They will then determine the meanings of the words and record them.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will determine the meanings of unknown words and rewrite sentences from text to demonstrate their understanding.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of words by applying them to a variety of contexts.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will distinguish one word from another by completing an attribute analysis grid. As an adaptation to this activity, teachers may create attribute analysis grids that reflect units of study.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will identify examples of non-literal words and phrases in text and record possible meanings.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will produce words containing the same root and identify their meanings.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will produce synonyms and antonyms to match targeted words.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will write simple definitions, sentences, and examples of target words in a graphic organizer.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will produce more precise alternatives for overused words in context.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will match words to their meanings.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will use reference materials to develop clues about target words. They will provide the clues to a partner until the target word is identified.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will find, discuss, record, and define selected words in a text.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will use strategies to identify the meanings of unknown words in context.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will show the relationship among words by placing them on a continuum.

Type: Student Center Activity

In this activity, students will produce synonyms as more precise alternatives for overused words.

Type: Student Center Activity

Using this case study, students can discuss, "What are the possible outcomes of sharing information that isn’t true?"

Type: Text Resource

3...2...1...Lift-off. Engage students in discussions about aerospace themes with the Ariane 5: The Satellite Launcher eReader. The eReader is an informational text with various text features and facts about the Ariane 5 rocket.

Type: Text Resource

Using this case study students can discuss, "In what ways can students take responsibility for their actions?"

Type: Text Resource

Using this case study, students can discuss, "How can we use strategies to persevere in difficult situations?"

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article and graphics explain the atmospheric conditions needed to form different types of precipitation: snow, freezing rain, and sleet.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This National Geographic Kids article explains how the invasion of non-native plants is threatening native food webs.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This National Geographic article describes the amazing attributes of the human brain, comparing its features to everyday objects like a light bulb or a computer.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how the dwarf seahorse's head shape allows it to be a better predator.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how, through high-speed video, scientists are able to see how bladderworts (carnivorous plants) trap small animals very quickly.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes properties of items as hyrdophobic or hyrdophilic and how they work.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes the complete and incomplete metamorphosis stages.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article describes chemical, biological and mechanical weathering and includes causes and examples for each.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes how energy passes through food chains. Examples of each link in the chain and a description of its role in the food chain are given.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This article discusses the steps in the water cycle.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. This text explores the possibility of creating a prosthesis (artificial limb) that can feel things.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article describes the ability of the hornworm caterpillar to defend itself against predators using its food source.

Type: Text Resource

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. The article discusses the study of a population's ability to adapt to the environment. The section of focus is on the cichlid population in Lake Victoria.

Type: Text Resource

The article describes a new kind of solar energy which concentrates light waves from the sun.

Type: Text Resource

Francisco Márquez was born in Venezuela and spent his childhood in both Venezuela and the U.S. He studied political science and law in Venezuela and earned his MBA in the United States. After receiving his MBA, Francisco returned to Venezuela. Under the authoritarian Nicolás Maduro regime, Francisco was arrested as a political prisoner and spent time in a Venezuelan prison. Eventually, Francisco was released and is now a political rights activist.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation

Ivonne Blank immigrated to the United States in 1961 as part of Operation Pedro Pan, the largest exodus on unaccompanied minors in the Western Hemisphere. Ms. Blank talks about how difficult it was waiting for her parents and living in an orphanage in Denver, CO. Her parents later left the island by boat, were rescued by the Coast Guard, and resettled in the United States. After the family was reunited, they were able to rebuild their lives with support from their community. Ms. Blank went on to become a lifelong educator and U.S. citizen.

Type: Video/Audio/Animation