Education
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Winter Garden Heritage Foundation
Experience History Field Trip
Classroom Exercise

Classroom Exercise: Lake Apopka

Grade levels appropriate:Fourth and Fifth

Objectives: What will students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?

Students will learn that:
  • at one time Lake Apopka was important to many groups of people including the native American Timucuan tribe, early pioneers, farmers, and tourists who came to catch the plentiful large-mouth bass;
  • the once crystal clear lake is now polluted;
  • the destruction of marshland for use as farmland destroyed the lake's filtering system;
  • fertilizers and pesticides entering the lake were the main cause of its pollution; and
  • a citizen organization successfully advocated the replacement of farmland surrounding the lake with wetlands so that the lake may one day be restored.

Sunshine State Standards:
SC.G.2.2.3: The student understands that changes in the habitat of an organism may be beneficial or harmful.
SC.H.3.2.1.4.1: The student knows that technologies often have costs, as well as benefits, and can have an enormous effect on people and other living things.
SS.A.6.2.2: The student understands the influence of geography on the history of Florida.
SS.B.2.2.2: The student understands how the physical environment supports and constrains human
activities.SS.B.2.2.3: The student understands how human activity affects the physical environment.
SS.B.2.2.4: The student understands how factors such as population growth, human migration, improved methods of transportation and communication, and economic development affect the use and conservation of natural resources.
SS.C.2.2.1: The student understands the importance of participation through community service, civic improvement and political activities.

Materials needed: Lake Apopka lesson handout for each student

Introductory/background information for teachers and students: What detailed information do teachers need to know to effectively teach this material to students? (Limit to one-half page.)

All of the information needed to teach this lesson is contained in the Lake Apopka lesson attachment.

Lesson process:
  1. Students, working in small groups of mixed reading abilities, read the Lake Apopka lesson together.
  2. After reading the lesson, each small group creates a Venn diagram together, listing:
    • What Lake Apopka was like in the past
    • What Lake Apopka is like now
    • Similarities between the past and present
  3. The class, led by the teacher, creates a Venn diagram on the board combining input from all students.

Assessment: How will students demonstrate that they have accomplished the above objectives?

Students will demonstrate understanding of the objectives through small group Venn diagrams, as well as through discussion in creating a classroom Venn diagram.

Reflection/follow-up activities: Provide key questions that could be used after this experience in classroom discussion, writing a review, reflective journal entries, or connection to other subjects.

  • What people throughout history used Lake Apopka?
  • Why was the lake important to them?
  • Why is the soil around Lake Apopka good for growing crops?
  • How did people change the lake?
  • What happened to the lake as a result of the change?
  • How did the changes impact the tourist economy?
  • How is the citizen group called Friends of Lake Apopka helping to restore the lake?

Additional materials: What other activities or materials would help teachers prepare students for this arts experience, and how can they be accessed? (Print, website, library, other.)

Teachers and students can refer to the Friends of Lake Apopka website, www.fola.org, for more information about the lake.

Connections to other learning: How does this experience connect with reading, math, science, social studies and other learning?

This lesson connects social studies and science. See Sunshine State Standards addressed in lesson.