Lesson	Goals	Objectives	Lesson Descripton
1: What Are The Everglades?	The Students will form an understanding of the history of the Everglades. The students will develop in interest in the Everglades and support for its preservation.	After discussing timelines and reading Everglades by Jean Craighead George, students will create a timeline of the Everglades in their own words by paraphrasing elements of the story.	After reading the story Everglades by Jean Craighead George and discussing the story, students created their own timelines of the Everglades using information from the story.  Students will then discuss what new events have happened in the Everglades since the book was written.
2: We're Sponging Off the Everglades.	The students will recognize that freshwater in the Everglades is not unlimited, that the water South Floridians use in all aspects of their lives comes right from the Everglades, and problems that humans are creating due to the misuse of water.	Using a wet sponge to represent the water-bearing limestone underlying the Everglades, the students will squeeze the sponge to illustrate the different groups that compete for the limited water supply.	Using a hands-on activity, students came to realize that freshwater was not an unlimited resource and that water conservation should be a priority in the conservation of the Everglades.
3: An Everglades Success Story	The students will learn about the great egrets of Florida, why they are endangered, and what people are doing to correct the problem.  The students will understand the harms of poaching and form and appreciation for the importance of protecting our wildlife.	After learning about and discussing the great egret, students will construct a life sized poster of an egret and illustrate it with facts they have learned.	Students will discuss all the actions that have lead to the endangerment of egrets such as poaching and land destruction, as well as the many actions and people that have helped replenish the populations of these birds.  Students will then compile all the facts they have learned about egrets into one large poster.
4: Lightning and Fire Cycles in the Everglades	The students will understand the importance if the natural fire cycle process that takes place within the Everglades and with that understanding, will create an effective educational campaign that will be designed to prevent wildfires that are being unnaturally started by humans and negatively affecting the Everglade's habitat.	Students will learn about fire-dependent habitats, prescribed burning and wildfires, in order to create educational literature that promotes fire safety in the Everglades.	Students read and highlight information in handouts to gain understanding of wildfires in the Everglades.  Students then are able to use their findings as well as prior knowledge to create their own posters for fire safety and awareness with regards to the Everglades.
5: Who Is Marjory Stoneman Douglas?	Students will discover the life and achievements of Marjory Stoneman Douglas as related to her work with the Florida Everglades.  Students will form an appreciation for conservation efforts and discover a sense of empowerment through studying the works of an individual.	By discussing the life and achievements of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, students will create a biography page of her life and select facts to present in short video clips.	After learning about the life and achievements of Marjory Stoneman Douglas by creating a biography of her life, students created a short skit describing the major threats to the Florida Everglades and what Mrs. Douglas has done to help.
6: Food Chains and Food Webs	The students will understand the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnections of the life sciences by learning about the food chains and food webs that commonly occur within the ecosystem of the Everglades.  Students will use this understanding to appreciate the natural cycle of life and how each organism within nature is dependent upon another.	Students will learn about the energy cycle, food chains, food webs, and classifications based on food sources that take place within the Everglades ecosystem by actively arranging and rearranging the different food sources onto an interactive food chain/web board.	Students will discuss the ways in which organisms interact in an environment.  Students will discover the flow of energy though these systems of food chains and webs.  After learning how these systems work, students will create their own food chains and webs to share as a group.