Standard 1: The World in Spatial Terms

In this lesson, students will read informational text about Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) as well as the Everglades. Students will annotate and summarize the text using a summarizing strategy. Then they will complete a graphic organizer to organize the information for their children's book. This is lesson 1 of 3 in a mini-unit integrating civics and English Language Arts.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn about the Florida Capitol Building and Everglades as important symbols of Florida. Students will label and color the capital, the Everglades National Park, and their hometown on a map of Florida.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will use a self-guided reference presentation to complete a mapping activity of Florida and learn about its early history. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn about the U.S. Supreme Court building as a symbol of the nation and locate the nation’s capital on a map.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn about the U.S. Capitol building as a symbol of the nation and locate the nation’s capital on a map.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn about the White House building as a symbol of the nation and locate the nation’s capital on a map.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will learn about the Florida Capitol and Everglades National Park as symbols that represent Florida. Students will locate these symbols and their hometowns on a map of the state.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will label countries in North America on a blank map while following alongside a slideshow. After labeling the countries in North America, students will learn more about symbols that represent the United States and label them on a blank U.S map.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will use text features to help understand and explain the meaning of academic vocabulary from What Is a Government? by Baron Bedesky in this lesson plan. Students will read a section of the text about the role of laws and create a drawing of text vocabulary that includes text features. This is lesson 2 of a 6-lesson unit plan based on this text.

This unit will support students as they explain why people form governments, the role of laws in government, the impact of government on daily life, and the ways the government protects the rights and liberty of American citizens. Students will engage in a read aloud of the text, What is Government, spread out over several lessons, emphasizing text features, vocabulary, central idea, and author’s purpose. In addition, the teacher will facilitate research, student presentations, expository writing, artwork, computer science, and identifying Florida symbols to help students solidify their interpretation as to why people form governments.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will learn about and locate important U.S. symbols (U.S. Capitol, White House, U.S. Supreme Court building, Statue of Liberty). Map elements (title, key/legend) and important geographic locations (United States, Florida, Washington D.C., New York City) will be reviewed.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this model eliciting activity (MEA), students are asked to help the International Olympic Committee rank prospective host cities for upcoming Summer Olympic Games. Students are provided with data about a list of applicant cities and then must rank the cities and write a proposal to the IOC explaining their rankings. At the end of the MEA, the students will write an opinion piece for the International Olympic Committee that tells their final decision about which city should be the next host of the Summer Olympic Games.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

This is an integrated lesson that includes an Engineering Design Challenge, a study of Mexico using an informational text, and a traditional folktale, Borreguita and the Coyote by Verna Aardema. The Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students investigate and generate explanations and practice working with money as they design and build flagpoles to display a flag representing story concepts. It is not intended as an initial introduction to these concepts.

Type: Lesson Plan