Lesson Plan - Buried Treasure: Finders Keepers?

Learning Objectives

Students will evaluate the reasons and evidence used to support each side of the debate.

Text Structure

Argument

Content-Area Connections

Science: Technology

Standards Correlations

CCSS: R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.6, R.7, R.8, R.10, L.4, SL.1

NGSS: Science, Technology, and Society

1. Preparing to Read

Poll Students
Before reading, poll students to see whether they think treasure hunters should be allowed to keep the treasures they find. After reading, poll students again to see if their opinions changed. Then have students cast votes on the article page here. They can see how students across the country voted.

Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know. 

  • archaeologist
  • relics

2. Close-Reading Questions

1. Which details from the discovery of the La Trinité support the idea that salvors should get to keep treasures they find?
Robert Pritchett and his crew spent a lot of time and effort to find La Trinité. They woke up at dawn each day and spent hours operating high-tech equipment into the Atlantic Ocean. Pritchett says he spent about $4 million in his search.
R.2 Supporting Details

2. Why didn’t Pritchett and his crew get to keep the treasures they found?
By law, sunken warships belong to the country that sent them—even centuries later. As a result, a Florida court ruled that the ship belonged to France, not to Pritchett.
R.1 Text Evidence

3. Summarize the point of view of James Delgado.
Delgado believes that treasure hunters should turn over their findings to archaeologists to be studied. He believes the value of buried treasure is in what you can learn, not how much money you can make. 
R.6 Point of View

3. Skill Building

FEATURED SKILL: Opinion Writing
Use the Skill Builder “Plan an Essay” to have students write an opinion paragraph. 
W.1 Opinion Writing 

Text-to-Speech