This cluster includes the following access points.
Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this topic.
| Name |
Description |
| Abraham Lincoln: Life of Honesty: A Time(line) of Freedom: | This is lesson #7 in the text unit series for Abraham Lincoln: A Life of Honesty by Tonya Leslie. After a read aloud students will use the text to create a timeline of Lincoln’s presidency as it relates to the abolition of slavery.
This unit will help students explain why the United States Constitution is an important document that protects the rights of American citizens, the responsibilities of the United States government, and how Abraham Lincoln is an important symbol of the United States Government.
Students will engage in a read aloud spread out over several lessons emphasizing vocabulary, central idea, research, expository and opinion writing, and collaboration in groups.
The teacher will facilitate vocabulary instruction, student research, determination of central ideas, student presentation, expository and opinion writing, and group collaboration to help students demonstrate why the United States Constitution is an important document.
This resource uses a book that is on the Florida Department of Education's reading list. This book is not provided with this resource. |
| Part 2: The Declaration of Independence Gives Us Unalienable Rights: | This lesson will allow the students to analyze primary sources while recognizing that the Declaration of Independence affirms that every U.S. citizen has certain unalienable rights. Students will identify the grievances detailed in the Declaration of Independence and track the development of this argument while explaining the reasoning. Students will write an expository piece about the consequences the British government faced for not recognizing that citizens have certain unalienable rights. |
| Part 1: The Declaration of Independence Gives Us Unalienable Rights: | This lesson will allow the students to analyze primary sources while recognizing that the Declaration of Independence affirms that every U.S. citizen has certain unalienable rights. Students will understand the importance of the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence and create new meanings to certain words in the Preamble. The students will engage in a classroom discussion about the Preamble, it's purpose, and how the Preamble would be different if it was written today. |
| When Change Is Needed : | In this lesson students will examine the reasons why the United States Constitution includes the amendment process. Students will identify what it means to amend the U.S. Constitution and the number of times it has been amended across the course of history. Students will also identify amendments to the U.S. Constitution by examining various periods in history that resulted in the passage of constitutional amendments.
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| Declaration of Independence thru the Eyes of a Child: | In this lesson plan, students will be able to break down the Declaration of Independence and understand the reasons colonists needed to break away from England and the main reasons leading up to the American Revolution. |
| Who Represents Florida? - The Senate : | In this lesson plan, students will review the legislative branch and learn about the history of the Senate. Students will look at the term length of senators, as well as the duties and authority of the Senate. Students will then identify 4 senators that have represented and served Florida at the national level, across the course of history, through the development and completion of a timeline.
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| The Articles of Confederation: | The purpose of this lesson is for students to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation while using primary and secondary sources that they will compare and contrast. The students will use the sources to explain through writing the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The students will also identify and locate the original thirteen colonies. |
| The Three Branches of Government : | In this student-guided presentation on the three branches of government, students will evaluate the choices and impacts of those choices made in the U.S. Constitution that provide the structure, power, and functions of the federal government. |
| Student Inquiry: How did the U.S. Constitution Influence the Florida Constitution?: | In this inquiry lesson, students will investigate using compelling and supporting questions, the impact of the U.S. Constitution on the Florida Constitution. The method of student-group demonstrations of learning is suggested, but flexible. |
| U.S. SYMBOLS: “THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER”: | This lesson provides students with the opportunity to read and recognize how the “Star-Spangled Banner” anthem, originally named, “Defense of Fort McHenry,” represents the United States. By analyzing how the poetic elements of rhyme and imagery contribute to the meaning of each of the verses of the Star-Spangled Banner, students will recognize the importance of this American symbol. |
| Robot Dogs and the Declaration of Independence: | In this lesson plan, students will recognize that the Declaration of Independence affirms that every American has certain unalienable rights. Students will identify different sections, principles, and grievances in the Declaration and will analyze why the assertion of these rights is fundamental to successful governance. |
| Why Have a Bill of Rights?: | In this lesson, students will learn who the Federalists and Anti-Federalists were before examining quotes, dialogue, and scenarios to evaluate the viewpoints of each. |
| The Articles of Confederation: | In this lesson, students will learn about the Articles of Confederation and identify it as the first constitution of the United States. Students will analyze the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and learn how these weaknesses led to problems. Students will then discover how the issues were addressed in the U.S. Constitution. |
| Bill of Rights, Freedom of Speech and Two Regimes: Witness to War: | In this lesson, students describe how concerns about individual rights led to the inclusion of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution, especially the First Amendment. Through primary and secondary sources students examine violations of individual rights in other countries. This resource helps support Florida’s State K-12 Holocaust Education Mandate.
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| The Beginning of A Revolution: | In this lesson students learn about the American Revolution. Students will be required to use two or more texts to summarize information some aspect of the American Revolution as well as create a timeline of important events leading up to the Revolutionary War. |
| Name |
Description |
| Portraits in Patriotism - Francisco Márquez: Elementary School: | 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. |
| Portraits in Patriotism - Tatiana Menaker: Elementary School: | Born in 1949, under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, Tatiana Menaker grew up in communist Soviet Union (now the Russian Federation), witnessing first-hand the inequalities that occurred under Stalin’s rule. “Refuseniks,” Tatiana and her family applied for permission to emigrate and became “Refuseniks” when they were denied permission to emigrate. Eventually, Tatiana engineered a plan that would allow her and her family to escape the Soviet Union. |
| Portraits in Patriotism - Lily Tang Williams: Elementary School: | Lily Tang Williams was born in communist China during Mao Zedong’s rule. She witnessed Mao’s Cultural Revolution first hand as she was growing up. She was a member of the Young Pioneers and the Red Guard, but yearned to come to the United States to learn about and live in a democracy. In 1988, she was able to come to the United States for schooling and was granted asylum status. |
| Portraits in Patriotism - Ivonne Blank: Elementary School: | 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. |
| Portraits in Patriotism - Idelia & Cristina Viera: Elementary School: | Idelia Viera shares the experience of being exiled from Cuba as a young woman, with special focus on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ms. Viera describes the difficulties her immigrant family faced and overcame in their new home, providing educational opportunities for their children she and her husband never had. Her daughter, Dr. Cristina Viera, shares her experiences growing up as the child of political refugees and talks about how her career path stems from the dreams her father had before he left Cuba. |
| Portraits in Patriotism - Luis Martínez Fernández: Elementary: | Luis Martínez-Fernández was born at the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. Dr. Martínez-Fernández immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 2 years old after the Bay of Pigs Invasion. His family moved to Lima, Peru after his father was offered employment there. Dr. Martínez-Fernández’s family left Peru after the President of Peru was ousted from power. The new government in Peru concerned Dr. Martínez-Fernández’s father and the family moved to Puerto Rico where they become U.S. Citizens. Dr. Martínez-Fernández moved to the U.S. after graduation from The University of Puerto Rico. He is a Professor of History, an author, and is civically engaged through his nationally syndicated column. |
| Portraits in Patriotism - Mel Martinez: Elementary School: | Former U.S Senator and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martínez shares his journey to freedom in the United States. Mr. Martínez was part of Operation Pedro Pan in which unaccompanied Cuban children were sent to the United States to escape the newly formed communist regime of Fidel Castro. Before leaving Cuba, he spent time with his father who shared life lessons with his son. Mr. Martínez distinctly remembers the pilot announcing that they were in America. After moving around the state of Florida in settlement camps, Mr. Martínez was placed in foster care. After four years he and his family were reunited. Mr. Martínez helped his father become a veterinarian in the U.S and as a family they were highly active in the community. His family’s spirit of activism was the foundation of Mr. Martínez’s career as a public servant. He graduated from Florida State University Law School in 1973 and began his political career. He was appointed the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 2001 and became a United States Senator in 2005. |
| Portraits in Patriotism - Alejandro Brice: Elementary - Middle: | Alejandro Brice and his family immigrated from Cuba at the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. His father was jailed as a counter-revolutionary sympathizer and upon release, the family fled the country. Dr. Brice shares his memories of his “freedom wings”, the culture shock of growing up in Ohio as immigrants, learning English in elementary school, watching his family start over, and becoming a U.S. Citizen. Dr. Brice is a college professor specializing in the education of immigrant children and English language learners. |
| Yorktown: Now or Never: | View a 10-part video on the Battle of Yorktown, the culminating battle of the Revolutionary War. With French aid, George Washington led American troops to a victory that ensured American independence.
In addition to the video, you will find primary source documents and a graphic organizer to help you analyze the Battle of Yorktown in greater detail. |
Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this topic.
