Cluster 2: Presentation of Knowledge and IdeasArchived

In this lesson students are actively engaged in learning about the applications of formal and informal language use in written and oral communication.

Type: Lesson Plan

Fifth grade students will be challenged to become super sleuths, or investigators, to describe plot development in depth, with a focus on characters in terms of stated and implied character traits. They will use "investigative strategies" to explore characterization and the setting, events, and conflict of the story to explain how each contributes to its plot. They will do this exploration first as a group and then independently.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be asked to rank the different floor tiles for the playrooms in activity centers throughout community parks. They will need to take certain factors into consideration when making their rankings. They will also need to calculate the costs of installing the floor tiles using the given measurement of the playroom and the floor tiles. The "twist" will be that the client now needs to include a storage room for some of the playroom's equipment. They will need to decide if to use the same floor tile or different from the playroom and the additional cost of the storage closet. After, they will add the total costs of the playroom and the storage closet. They will report their findings and reasons by writing letters to the client.

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. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity requires students to apply their knowledge of unit conversions, speed calculation, and comparing fractions to solve the problem of which water park their class should choose to go on for their 5th grade class trip.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will be able to identify similes and metaphors within a piece of literature. Students will be able to determine the meaning of the simile or metaphor and explain how it contributes to the text. The students will be able to then use their understanding of similes and metaphors to apply them to their own narrative writing.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson has students defining a selection of words from the Pledge of Allegiance. After defining these words, students will identify synonyms for the selected words and rewrite the pledge in their own words. Students will then orally present their rewritten pledge to the class.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson introduces students to a creative and engaging way to understand story structure and elements of plot by allowing the students to write and act out a play. Students make selections from a provided list featuring various settings, characters, and conflicts and build their creative plays using a ready-made story feature template.

Type: Lesson Plan

This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of weathering and erosion from SC.4.E.6.4 as they build devices to stop beach erosion. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will use resources from the classroom and the school media center to conduct research on a topic of their choosing. Students will then plan and draft an expository essay using their research as their sources. Their research will become the evidence that is cited in their text and what they use to inform their readers on their topic. Students will confer with classmates on expository planning and construction, and will give, as well as receive, critical feedback to other students to help them make their writing better.

Type: Lesson Plan

This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to introduce students to Native Floridians, their basic needs, and the challenges they faced in Florida's environment. Students will be designing and constructing a tool out of Florida native materials (items found in Florida's environment) that could meet one of the basic needs of humans. They will be discussing whether Native Floridians were engineers based on their ability to construct tools and shelters out of native materials in order to solve problems.

Type: Lesson Plan

This Engineering Design Challenge is intended to help students apply the concepts of pollination from SC.4.L.16.1 as they design an apparatus that will pollinate a field. It is not intended as an initial introduction to this benchmark.

In this Engineering Design Challenge, students will make a 2-dimensional model (a graphic illustration) rather than build a prototype.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will create their own original narrative that mimics the story The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble. This lesson allows time for students to practice writing the narrative with teacher support as a whole class and with teacher support in small groups before writing a narrative on their own.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, 4th grade students will use web-based articles and maps to look at current and potential air (wind) and water (hydro)power plants for their, or a teacher-given, local area. Students will present an argument for which type of renewable energy plant they believe would be best citing evidence from text(s) and/or map(s). Students may work and/or write in groups or individually. Access points are included for this lesson.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, the students will design a protected environment for an endangered animal that encourages the animal's natural behaviors and meets its physical requirements. Students will explain to their classmates why the protected environment is essential for the endangered animal.

Type: Teaching Idea