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hepople' Lesson Plans



It's a Special Place
Prepared by Lois Medevic

Intended Grade: 4th

Subject Areas: Social Studies and Language Arts

Correlation with National or Florida Sunshine State Standards:
Social Studies
SS.A.6.2- The student understands the history of Florida and its people.
Knows the significant individuals, events, social, political and economic
characteristics of different periods in Florida's history.
a. Students will explore the meaning of place in relation to why the
Spaniards came to St. Augustine
b. Students will investigate why their family came to this place
Language Arts
LA.B.2.2- the students write to communicate ideas and information
effectively
a. Writes notes, comments and observations that reflect the
comprehension of content and experiences from a variety of media
b. Creates expository responses in which ideas and details follow an
organizational pattern and are relevant to a purpose

Objectives:
1. Students will be introduced to the to the First Spanish Period in Florida
2. Students will become familiar with the definition of Place as it relates to Social
Studies
3. Students will write an expository writing describing the reasons the Spaniards
wanted to come to Florida

Approximate Time Required: 2-3 days

Materials Required:
Map
Computers
Writing material









Instructions:
Begin the lesson by asking the children the following questions or ones you
devise dealing with why they are at the place they are:
Why am I here?
Why did my family end up here (county, state, city, country)?

After students share, review the explorer timeline to this point.
Ask the students why they think Spain wanted to be in Florida.
Some of the desired responses are:
Opportunity
Adventure
To establish an outpost/colony
Religious
Base of operations
Learn about new people and animals

Have the students break up into groups of two to use the following web sites
to find examples to support the above reasons for Spain wanting to be in this
place.
http://www.flheritage.com/facts/historv/summary/
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/staugustine/intro.htm
http://www.artifacts.org

Once the students have researched the websites and found specific
examples, have them write an expository essay for the following prompt:
You have just finished investigating why the Spaniards decided on St.
Augustine to be their place in La Florida.
Before you begin writing think of some of the reasons they decided to
come here. Write to explain why this was their choice.

Suggested Readings (Teacher prior information):
http://palmm.fcla.edu/fh/outline/outline.html (A Short History of Florida)
http://www.flheritage.com/facts/history/sum mary (Brief History)
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/staugustine/intro.htm (Exhibit Intro)
http://www.artifacts.org

Evaluation:
The expository essay can be scored using the Florida Writes Rubric. Besides
scoring the writing also check to make sure they have included pertinent facts to
support the thesis statement.