Fourth Graders Imagine La Florida
Source/Author: Jane Boarman
October 23, 2014
On Tuesday, the fourth grade visited the St. Petersburg Museum of History to conduct research in the exhibit, Imagining La Florida. The temporary exhibit features the stories of the Native Americans, Spanish and Africans who lived in our state in the 16th and 17th centuries. The class has been studying migration to Florida in Social Studies. The students chose one of five themes they wanted to focus on: people, travel, maps and mapmaking, language, and religion. The students fanned out in the museum space reading and interacting with the displays. They worked on teams to answer questions and add to their knowledge of the topic. They recorded video and took pictures of the exhibits to help them remember the information and for later use in their presentations. The students were focused and engaged for the entire hour they had to work in the exhibit. They will meet again in class to continue their research into their as-yet unanswered questions and to create a presentation to teach others about their area of expertise.
