Lesson Plans

Overview

The Estate offers our community’s youth and their educators on-site and off-site programming opportunities that are designed to engage participants into our Living Classroom. During traditional school hours or as part of an after school care program, our Eco-Brigade—the Deering Estate at Cutler’s Education and Interpretive Staff— provides an enrichment curriculum and lesson plans to complement in-school learning. Equipped with fossils, artifacts and tools, preserved specimens, photographs and simple laboratory experiments, our Eco-Brigade brings our Living Classroom curriculum to community youth in the field of ecology, geology, marine biology, archaeology, history and art. Reverse Field Trips to public and private schools as well as on-site Homeschool Programs accommodate up to 30 students per two hour session and multiple sessions can be offered at a single site.

30-Week Reverse Tour Curriculum Overview

30-Week Homeschool Program Curriculum Overview

Ecology 1 and 2
Ecology is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their environment. South Florida is rich in flora and fauna. Our backyards are abundant in different habitats and interactions between humans and the environment. Through our ecology curriculum, students will have the chance to discover some of these habitats and understand the relationships between organisms and the many environments found South Florida.

Lesson Plans:

Insects & Spiders

Quadrat Sampling

Birds

Reptiles and Amphibians

Food for Thought

History 1 and 2
History is the study of our past. At the Deering Estate at Cutler, we focus our historical attention on human activity leading up to the present day. Our curriculum highlights the history surrounding the Estate, which includes the Tequestas whose village was located on the grounds of the Estate, the history of the settlers of the town of Cutler and the story of Charles Deering. The curriculum is divided in two tracks to choose from: History 1 and History 2. The History 1 curriculum encompasses activities designed to learn techniques used by our ancestors to survive in Florida. Among the activities included in this track, students will design a new symbol language like the one used by Native Americans. They will learn about plants utilized by pioneers for food, medicine and paint. They will use old photographs to create a story, and using craft materials, they will create a historic house. The History 2 curriculum offers students an opportunity to learn about the Tequestas, Early Pioneers, the Town of Cutler and Charles Deering.

Lesson Plans:

Adventures in Ethnobotany