Creating a Community: From Land Property to Intellectual Property

iKeepSafeGrade 3 Unit

Unit Overview

People settle in areas where they think they can survive and build a community. They may own land or personal property. They can also create things that they then own, and can share or sell them; these may be inventions or creative expressions of ideas (intellectual property). Laws made by the community to protect property. As a creator, students can share their intellectual property; they are modeling how to create, share, and play fair.

A. Land!

What does your region look like?

• What physical features do you see here? http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/us.htm

• Based on the land, where would you like to live? Why?

• How does this map compare to Google Earth’s map?

Primary versus Secondary Sources

• Primary source: Based on first-hand experience

What is an example?

• Secondary source:Based on other sources

What is an example?

Settling the Land

• How do homes reflect the geography?http://www.ducksters.com/history/native_american_homes.phphttp://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_expansion/log_cabin.php

• Settlers could put a claim on land, and say they owned it; it was their property.

• Land owners can share and sell their land.

Who owns land now?

• If you saw an empty house or an empty lot, could you just live there? What do you think would happen?

• Property laws protect land ownership.

ASPECTS OF PROPERTY

NOTES INFORMATION SOURCE TITLE

INFORMATION SOURCE URL PRIMARY OR SECONDARY SOURCE? WHY

Land features Flat land, water, green Southern California. Color Landform Atlas of the United States

http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/maps1/ca_south.gif

Primary: made from satellite

Resources Crops, dairy products, fish, lumber, metal

California economy. Fact Monster

http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/us/california-economy.html

Secondar y: encycloped gathering facts

Craft or invention

Food, furniture, pottery, boats California economy. Fact Monster

http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/us/california-economy.html

Secondary: encycloped gathering facts

Creative expression

Song about California: includes, guitar, drums

California sunshine. Internet Archive

http://archive.org/details/california_sunshine Primary: recording of singer

B. Resources and Personal Property

Resource Use

• How were resources used by settlers?http://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_expansion/daily_life_on_the_frontier.php

• Settlers could share and sell the things they raised, such as cattle, because it was considered personal property.

• Laws protect personal property.

What is one thing YOU own?

• What ownership rights do you have?• Should you take someone else’s things?• What are good ways to share?• Play fair!

Encyclopedias for Research

• Encyclopedias gather and organize all kind of information for easy use

• http://www.FactMonster.com• Sometimes to access an encyclopedia you

have to subscribe to it.

C. Using Resources to Create

Creating Things

• What might settlers create?http://video.pbs.org/video/2090790934http://archive.org/details/CEP145http://www.zoomschool.com/inventors/

• A patent gives a person the right to make, use and sell his/her invention.

What might YOU create?

• What are examples of personal property that one might create?

• What can YOU do to play fair with people’s property and things they create?

D. Expressing Oneself Creatively

People like to express themselves

• How might settlers express themselves creatively? http://archive.org/details/TexasFolkSongs

• We don’t know who created folk tales and folks songs. They are in the public domain.

• If you RECORD your creative expression, it can be copyrighted: ©

• It is intellectual property.

Copyright and Folktales

• People can create and record original interpretations of folk expressions – they can be copyrighted

• http://www.worldoftales.com/folktales.html• http://www.mightybook.com/• http://www.americanfolklore.net/sindex.html • http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.htmlhttp

://en.childrenslibrary.org/

How do the URL/domain address endings differ?

• Com= commercial (they try to make money)• Net = network (it could be commercial)• Org = organization (usually not for profit, and

established to link people with similar interests)

• Edu = education

http://pbskids.org/shareastory/

• How do you share a creation on this website?• What might be a good thing about sharing

your creation?• What might be a bad thing about sharing your

creation?• What are some good rules about sharing?• Do you feel comfortable using that website to

share your original work?

Be a Creator!

• Access resources to inspire you.• Create an original work, citing your sources

that other people shared with you.• Decide how you want to share your original

work.• That’s how to play fair!