ELA.4.V.1.1

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 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

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

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

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 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 match homographs with their corresponding 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 produce synonyms as more precise alternatives for overused words.

Type: Student Center Activity

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