Expected Duration

Social Sciences
Concepts

Lesson Plan Overview and Description

Public Lands & Theodore Roosevelt
1 Class Period
Geography, History, Political Science
What public land it/how it affects us
Theodore Roosevelts influence on public land in the
west

Vocabulary
Public land: land that is owned by the government

Theodore Roosevelt: President Roosevelt created

many national monuments in the West and Southwest
Skills

Broad goals of the

lesson

Comprehension skills
Relating material to real world/today
Writing skills
The importance of public land and the impact that Theodore
Roosevelt had on public land in the west

Content Outline
Limits on Land Use
Limits are set on how certain areas of land can be
used (ex: National parks like Yellow Stone National
Park
President Theodore Roosevelt kept many national
parks safe by making them public land.
Managing Land
Early settlers of West based economy mining,
farming, ranching, logging, and fishing
Government believed that they should own land
with certain resources, or public land
The government requires users of public land and
resources to pay rent today
Standards

PDE SAS

S4.B.3.3.4: Identify major land uses in the

urban, suburban and rural communities (e.g.,
housing, commercial, recreation).

NCSS Themes and

Subthemes

Theme #3- People, Places, and Environments

Theme #6- Power, Authority, and Governance

Lesson Objectives
Students will define the term public land.
Students will explain why public land is necessary.
Teaching Procedures
Anticipatory
I will begin this lesson by asking the students to do a free write on
Set/Introduction
the word public land. What does it mean? What is considered
public land? What is not considered public land? What is an
example of public land? They will predict answers to these
questions based on breaking up the word and their background
knowledge. They will write continuously and stress free for three
minutes.
Lesson Input
I.
Anticipatory Set
II.
I will then show a video to the students (Our
Land)
III.
Public land is land owned by the government
IV.
After viewing this short video, students will be
split into groups of two and list the resources and
things that public land is used for (including
water, playgrounds, fishing, beaches, air,
growing food, gardening, trees, running, open
space, etc)
V.
Students will then complete a fun activity that
shows their understanding of public land. The top
reads The Trust for _______s Land. They will fill
their name in and draw a picture showing why
public land matters to them. They will then write
a few sentences to describe their picture and
thoughts. This is a fun activity, and I chose to do
it because its the last lesson in the unit!
VI.
A PowerPoint will be shown showing Theodores
relationship with public land. He strongly
supported public land and created many national
monuments in the west including Muir Woods
and Natural Bridges.
VII.
The students will be asked to take notes

throughout the PowerPoint.

Guided Practice
Independent
Practice
Differentiation
Closure

Students will be guided through the PowerPoint.

The exit slip and public land activity will be completed
independently
Differentiation will be determined once the students
are known to the teacher.
Students will complete an exit slip by writing down one thing that
they learned from the PowerPoint regarding Theodore Roosevelt
and public land.

Teacher and Student Resources and Evaluation of Resources

#OurLand
Influence: 3+ Characteristics: Accessibility: Overall
Video (1 Minute Significant This source was
Accessibility
Rating: I
Long)
Influenceis
easy!
would give
created by a
When
YouTube is a this resource
nonprofit
https://www.yout searching
a 3 out of 5
organization/activi free source
ube.com/watch? for
for both
stars. I liked
sm group
v=9KtYvDfKcN
resources, The organization
students and
that it gave
E
this video
teachers.
an emotional
provides that they
gave me
view on
are credible in the
the main
public lands.
videos
themes of
It could be
description. Since
my lesson
used in the
1972, we've
because of
future for a
protected more
the
larger project
than three million
emotional
that is based
acres and created
feel &
off of the
more than 5,000
individual
students
parks and natural
based
own ideas.
places for people
views that
to enjoy
it has.
The website that is
the basis of the
video contains
.org in the web
address
(www.tpl.org/ourla
nd)

Official Public
Lands Website

This source
.org This site is
had a
public lands
minor
official website

Accessibility
is easy and

This source
is not easy
for students

Publiclands.org

Theodore
Roosevelt and
Public Land
http://www.nps.g
ov/thro/learn/his
toryculture/theo
dore-rooseveltandconservation.ht
m

influence There are no

on the
advertisements on
planning of
this website.
this lesson. Non-profit
organization owns
the website

free!

to
understand, I
would give it
a 3 out of 5.

This source .gov

had a
Government
significant
website (National
influence
Park Service)
on the
No ads
lesson
because it Non-profit
organization
would be
the basis
for the
PowerPoint
created.

Accessibility
is easy and
free!

I would give
this source a
5 out of 5! I
would
definitely use
it again.

Formative and Summative Assessment of Students

Teacher will walk around and monitor discussions among students
throughout the lesson.
Students will complete an exit slip. The public land activity will be
collected and graded.
Technology/Materials/Equipment
Technology
A PowerPoint will be shown relating public land to Theodore
Roosevelt.
Materials
Theodore Roosevelt & Public Lands PowerPoint
Projector (to display video)
Exit Slip (lined paper)
Reflection on Planning
I enjoyed planning this lesson. This format is a lot more in depth and resource based
than I am used to. The only challenge that I can think of that could come up is time. It
is hard to predict how long each activity throughout this lesson will take. It could be
either underestimated or overestimated depending on how in depth the students think
into the activities. I think it is a good fit to place this lesson at the end of the unit. Im
hoping that these public land activities will be interesting and relatable to the students.
Formative
Assessment
Summative
Assessment