St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum

K-12 Post-Tour Activities

We hope you and your students enjoyed your visit to the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum!

The excitement of climbing the tower might have faded, but hopefully some of the information about the

St. Augustine Lighthouse stuck with your students. In order to reinforce the concepts your students

learned during the visit, here is an assortment of suggested follow-up activities to choose from for your

classroom.

Primary Learning Objectives These are the main points we want your students to retain after their visit, and they are the

themes these activities are designed to reinforce:

1) Students should understand the term maritime

2) Students should understand the way a lighthouse was and is used as an aid to

navigation

3) Students should understand the concept of maritime archaeology and be aware of the

work that maritime archaeologists do

Sunshine State Standards 3rd grade: 4th Grade: 5th Grade: 6th Grade: SS.3.A.1.1 SS.4.A.1.2 SS.5.A.1.1 SS.6.E.1.1

SS.3.G.2.4 SS.4.G.1.3 MA.5.G.3.1 SS.6.G.1.6 SS.3.G.2.5 SS.4.G.1.1 MA.5.G.3.2 SS.6.G.2.5

SS.3.G.3.1 MA.4.G.5.3 MA.5.G.5.4 SS.6.W.1.3 MA.3.G.3.3 MA.4.A.6.1 SC.5.E.7.6 MA.6.A.3.1

MA.3.G.5.1 SC.4.E.6.6 MA.6.G.4.2 SC.3.N.1.6

SC.3.P.10.1

7th Grade: 8th Grade: 9th-12th Grade: SS.7.G.2.3 SS.8.A.1.2 SS.912.G.2.1 MA.912.A.10.1

MA.7.A.1.6 SS.8.G.5.1 SS.912.G.3.2 MA.912.A.5.7 MA.7.G.2.1 MA.8.A.6.4 SS.912.G.5.1 MA.912.A.5.5

MA.7.G.2.2 MA.8.G.5.1 SS.912.G.5.2 SC.912.E.7.4 MA.7.G.4.1 SS.912.W.1.4 SC.912.E.7.8

MA.7.G.4.4 MA.912.A.1.4 SC.912.N.4.2 MA.912.A.1.5

Materials and Resources Appendix A—Lighthouse Vocabulary Appendix B—St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum Crossword Puzzle Appendix C—Create Your Own Lighthouse Worksheet Appendix D—Lighthouse Nightmark Hand-Out Appendix E—Shipwreck Artifact Matching Worksheet Extra paper and markers Rulers, compasses Flashlights

Colored Paper

1. Introduction Long before the invention of airplanes and sophisticated navigational equipment, people

used ships for the transportation of people and goods, and they often navigated using

unreliable instruments. Lighthouses provided sailors with beacons they could use to safely

maneuver through shallow waters near the coast. To magnify their light many miles out to sea,

lighthouses utilize Fresnel (Frah nel) lenses, named after their inventor Augustin Fresnel. These

precise glass Fresnel lenses, take the light from a source like burning oil or kerosene, redirect,

concentrate, and project it straight out to sea. For hundreds of years lighthouses provided safe

navigation for ships bringing people and supplies to the United States. St. Augustine has had a

signal tower here on Anastasia Island since at least 1586, and a lighthouse since 1737. The

current lighthouse was built between 1871 and 1874 and is still an active aid to navigation.

St. Augustine Lighthouse Vital Statistics Height: 165 feet

Stairs: 219

Made of: bricks (1.2 million!), iron, and granite

Built in: 1871-1874

Lamp Fueled by: 1874-1885—lard oil (pig fat); 1885-1936—kerosene; 1936-today—

electricity

Daymark: black and white spiral stripes on the tower; red lantern

Nightmark: continuous white light with a long white flash every 30 seconds

2. Activities/Methods—Lighthouse 101 a. Why We Need Lighthouses

Ask your students if they remember what lighthouses do.

With modern technology, lighthouses might not seem very necessary today, but

lighthouses worked as a sort of GPS before the modern technology we know today existed. For

more than 2,000 years humans have used some sort of lit signal tower to warn sailors of

approaching ports, towns, and dangerous geographical features such as rocks, coral reefs, and

sand bars. The United States is surrounded by oceans—Atlantic and Pacific—and this isolation

made shipping crucial to the country’s survival. For many centuries boats and ships were the

main way to get people and supplies to the country. An early act of the United States Congress

in 1789 was the Lighthouse Act, which was intended to regulate and build more lighthouses to

help shipping in the new nation.

b. How Lighthouses Help

The St. Augustine Lighthouse was built to provide a reference point (a landmark) for sailors

to know exactly where they were and to alert them to the presence of shifting sand bars around

the city’s port. Sailors can identify specific lighthouses because of how each lighthouse looks

during the day—its daymark—and how its light appears at night—its nightmark. No two

lighthouses have the same daymark or nightmark, and our lighthouse’s distinctive daymark and

nightmark let ships know that they are near St. Augustine, Florida. The St. Augustine

Lighthouse’s daymark is its black and white spiral striped tower with a red top (lantern). Our

nightmark is a fixed white light with an intense white flash every 30 seconds. In addition to

keeping the light lit and the lens rotating and clean, lighthouse keepers also helped mariners by

watching the ocean, helping ships in distress, and keeping records of all maritime activity.

3. Lighthouse 101 Review Activities and Methods

Here is an assortment of activities to help your students review basic facts about

lighthouses, how they work as aids to navigation, and how the St. Augustine Lighthouse in

particular helps sailors.

a. Vocabulary Review—[See Appendices A and B] Have students complete the

Lighthouse Crossword to review key terms related to the St. Augustine Lighthouse and

Museum and our maritime archaeology program, LAMP.

b. Create Your Own Lighthouse—[See Appendix C]

Students will create their own lighthouse after choosing a specific location they feel

needs a lighthouse. It is recommended that students research their chosen lighthouse

location to understand the area’s geography, natural environment, history, and maritime

activities. Depth of research will vary according to the students’ age, but students

should be aware of why a particular region would need a lighthouse. Students will

utilize the provided hand-out to devise and illustrate their own unique daymark and

nightmark and to provide a cogent argument for why they chose each one, as well as

why their particular location needs a lighthouse. This argument can be made verbally or

written in letter or essay format, as guided by the essay prompt on the worksheet.

Students should feel free to get creative and add as many details as they want!

c. Play “Lighthouse Red Light, Green Light” –[See also Appendix D]

Once students have created their own lighthouse with a unique daymark and nightmark,

have them use flashlights to practice their nightmark. Some students may also require

colored construction paper if their nightmark includes colored light. Then let students

take turns being the “Lighthouse” and flashing their unique nightmark in a game similar

to “Red Light, Green Light.”

The “Lighthouse” stands several yards in front of the other students, who can only

advance towards the finish line in front of the “Lighthouse” when they see the

“Lighthouse” flash his or her nightmark (the nightmark must first be described and

demonstrated by the “Lighthouse”).

Students can also practice the nightmarks of the lighthouses listed in Appendix D and

use these for Lighthouse Red Light, Green Light instead.

4. Maritime Archaeology at the Lighthouse The Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) is a research arm of the St.

Augustine Lighthouse and Museum, and their work is very important to what we know and how

we learn about the history of this area. In order to learn more about the history of a place and

its inhabitants, archaeologists study the things (artifacts) that people in the past left behind.

Maritime archaeologists study man-made objects that are now either in the ocean or near the

ocean. Examples of such sites include shipwrecks, coastal forts and towns, wharves and boat

landings, and navigational aids like lighthouses. Hundreds of ships have wrecked off the coast

of St. Augustine and northeast Florida, and LAMP’s maritime archaeologists do a lot of their

work with shipwrecks.

Maritime archaeologists can identify a shipwreck and many facts about it, such as where

it came from, where it was going, what cargo it carried, and when and why it crashed. They do

this by examining the wreck site and the artifacts they find there, making observations about

both, and by conducting research in historical records such as ship’s logs, drawings, personal

letters, and government documents. There are often detailed records of shipwrecks, the cargo

specific ships carried, and the people who built, bought, sailed on, or had interactions with

particular ships. These facts help us to better understand the history of a certain time, place,

and society. After finding, documenting, and excavating artifacts, maritime archaeologists also

conserve artifacts so that future generations can learn from them. Conservation methods vary

depending on the artifact and what it is made of, but archaeologists have to remove

concretions of sand, shells, and barnacles that get stuck to the artifact, as well as salt that

seeps into objects as they sit in the ocean for years and years.

5. Maritime Archaeology Review Activities and Methods a. Shipwreck + Artifact Matching [See Appendix E]—This matching activity asks

your students to be archaeologists and identify artifacts from an 18th century

shipwreck. All of the artifacts listed on the worksheet were found at the Storm

Wreck site right off the coast of St. Augustine. The ship, whose name is not known,

wrecked in the 1780s, and Lighthouse archaeologists hypothesize that it carried both

militia and civilians, perhaps part of the 1782 Loyalist evacuation of Charleston,

South Carolina at the end of the American Revolution. Students should carefully

read the shipwreck description, examine the artifact photos and clues, and draw

upon their own knowledge to discern what each artifact was. In doing this they will

be doing a bit of what archaeologists do when they examine shipwreck artifacts.

b. Artifact Matching Discussion—After completing the matching activity, have

students discuss their answers and the significance of these artifacts. What might

the presence of certain items (for example, the gentleman’s pocket pistol, the fancy

shoe buckle, or the lead shot) say about the ship and the people who were on

board? Why would an archaeologist be excited to find a particular item?

Want to know more about maritime archaeology in St. Augustine? Check out LAMP’s

official website:

http://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/LAMP/index.htm

Wrap-Up and Assessment Review the following with your students:

What does it mean that the St. Augustine Lighthouse is an “aid to navigation”? How

does a lighthouse help sailors at sea?

Why was it so important to have lighthouses in America, particularly during the 1700s,

1800s, and early 1900s? (emphasize the importance of shipping and the oceans as a

primary form of transportation of people, goods, and ideas)

How did sailors recognize the St. Augustine Lighthouse? (daymark/nightmark)

How tall should a lighthouse be? Why do you think the St. Augustine Lighthouse is as

tall as it is? (Much of Florida is at sea-level and the lighthouse is not built on a rock or

cliff, so the tower needed to be tall compared to lighthouses built in places like Maine or

Michigan; also, as it is primarily used as a landmark, the tower’s daymark needed to be

clearly visible)

In what ways might lighthouses in different parts of the United States be different from

each other and from the St. Augustine Lighthouse? Consider location, height, building

materials, purpose, etc.

What do maritime archaeologists do?

Why are archaeological artifacts important and why must archaeologists properly

conserve them?

Reflection Questions With modern technology like GPS, radar, and sonar, what purpose do you think

lighthouses serve today?

If you found a shipwreck, what would you want to know about it? What would you do

to find this information?

Think about your backpack or your bedroom. What would an archaeologist think if they

found your backpack or your bedroom in 250 years? What is in it, and what do you

think this might tell archaeologists about you? Would there be particular things that

would help them identify what they found and what year it was from (ie: particular

model of laptop, DS, etc.)?

How can archaeological artifacts help people learn? What kinds of information can you

learn from an artifact from a shipwreck?

Appendix A—Vocabulary Archaeologist: someone who scientifically studies the human past by examining the

things people have left behind, such as artifacts and buildings

Artifact: an object humans left behind many years ago

Conserve: to keep something safe and intact for a long period of time; archaeologists

use special procedures to keep artifacts from deteriorating and falling apart

Excavate: to dig out and/or remove

Daymark: the unique outward appearance of a lighthouse; no two lighthouses have the

same daymark

o The St. Augustine Lighthouse’s daymark is black and white spiral stripes with a

red top.

Fresnel lens: a type of specially-made glass lens that re-directs and magnifies a light

shining inside it so that the light is seen in a straight, strong, and concentrated beam;

Frenchman Augustin Fresnel designed the lens in the 1820s, and there are six different

sizes—or orders—of Fresnel lenses

o The St. Augustine Lighthouse has a first-order Fresnel lens, which is the

largest available.

Industry: a British merchant ship that wrecked off the coast of St. Augustine in 1764;

Industry was bringing supplies like cannons and tools to the new British colony

Maritime: of, related to, or near the ocean

Maritime Archaeologist: someone who scientifically studies the past of humans who

lived near or on the water, as well as their connection to waterways and oceans;

maritime archaeologists often study shipwrecks

Nightmark: the distinctive pattern and/or color of light that each lighthouse uses; no

two lighthouses have the same nightmark, and they can get complicated, sometimes

incorporating flashes at various intervals and flashes of different colors

o The St. Augustine Lighthouse’s nightmark is a constant white light with a long

white flash every 30 seconds.

Appendix B—Lighthouse Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle

Appendix C—Create Your Own Lighthouse Worksheet

Appendix D—Lighthouse Nightmark Hand-Out

Appendix E—Shipwreck Artifact Matching Worksheet

This is an official product of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, Inc.™ aka St. Augustine Lighthouse™ and the

First Light Maritime Society™. It may not be reproduced in whole or part without advance written permission of the

Executive Director of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, Inc.

St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, Inc. and the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program Inc. encourage

participation by faculty, staff and students in scholarly research and creative activities that enhance and support

learning in the museum and its laboratories. Research and interpretive programs are aimed at discovery and

dissemination of knowledge in keeping with the museum’s educational, non-profit mission. To inquire about

permission to use our works and intellectual property in the classroom, for your research or for other public or non-

profit uses please contact us in writing at LAMP Maritime Research, c/o First Light Maritime Society, 81 Lighthouse

Avenue, St. Augustine, FL 32080.

Create Your Own Lighthouse

Where will you build your lighthouse? __________________________________________ Florida Virginia Michigan (Great Lakes) Northeast Florida Maryland Oregon

Florida Gulf Coast New Jersey Alaska Florida Keys New York California

Georgia Massachusetts North Carolina

South Carolina Maine

Describe the natural environment on this coastline: _____________________________________________________________________________

Why do you need a lighthouse here? _____________________________________________________________________________

Create a unique daymark and nightmark for your lighthouse and describe here: Daymark:

Nightmark: Color: Light Pattern:

What will you build the lighthouse out of?_______________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ How tall will it be? _______________________feet What kind of fuel will light the lamp? ___Lard Oil ___Kerosene ___ Electricity ___Solar Energy What size lens will you need? ___1st Order ___2nd Order ___3rd Order ___4th Order ___5th Order ___6th Order

Hands-On Activity:

Create an illustration of your lighthouse, its location, and its unique daymark on an

additional piece of paper.

Writing Activity:

Using what you now know about lighthouses and maritime activity in the region you

chose, write a letter to government officials requesting funds to build your lighthouse.

In your letter you must make a strong argument for the need for a lighthouse in this

particular place. Why should the government give you money for a lighthouse? How

will you use the money they provide? Issues you might want to address include:

problems that a lighthouse would solve; how the lighthouse would help the community;

why your particular lighthouse would be best in this location; how you plan to build and

maintain your lighthouse; how other lighthouses have helped places in the past.

Optional Word Problems for Your Students:

Have your students answer these questions as time and age permit:

1) Determine the height and circumference of your lighthouse’s tower. Calculate

the area of your tower using the appropriate formulas.

2) Determine the shape, height, and width of the lantern at the top of your tower.

Determine the area and volume of these polygons.

3) Convert your tower’s height from feet to yards; from feet to meters; from meters

to centimeters or kilometers

4) Create a scale for your lighthouse (ex: 1 inch :: 10 feet) Use a ruler and draw

your lighthouse to scale

5) How far from the ocean will you build your lighthouse? Give your answer in feet,

meters, and miles.

Lighthouse Red Light, Green Light

Nightmark Worksheet

Below is a list of several United States lighthouses and their nightmarks and daymarks. Students can use this list to get a better idea of the variety of lighthouse nightmarks and they can practice them with flashlights and colored paper, or use the nightmarks to play Lighthouse

Red Light, Green Light.

St. Augustine Lighthouse St. Augustine, FL Daymark: black and white spiral stripes; red lantern Nightmark: continuous white beam with a long white flash every 30 seconds Ponce Inlet Lighthouse Ponce Inlet, FL Daymark: red brick tower; black lantern Nightmark: 6 white flashes in 15 seconds, then a 15 second eclipse Pensacola Light Pensacola, FL Daymark: lower third white, upper two-thirds black; black lantern Nightmark: white flash every 20 seconds Fowey Rocks Key Biscayne, FL Daymark: brown octagonal pyramidal skeletal tower with white stair cylinder: octagonal dwelling with green trim and shutters Nightmark: white flash every 10 seconds with 2 red sectors

Cape Hatteras Light Hatteras Island, NC Daymark: black and white spiral stripes; black lantern Nightmark: short white flash every 7.5 seconds

Cape Canaveral Light Cape Canaveral, FL Daymark: black and white horizontal bands; black lantern Nightmark: 2 flashes in 5 seconds followed by a 15 second eclipse Boston Light Little Brewster Island, outer Boston Harbor Daymark: white with 5 steel bands and black trim Nightmark: white flash every 10 seconds St. Simon’s Island Lighthouse St. Simon’s Island, GA Daymark: white cone; black lantern Nightmark: continuous white beam with flash every 60 seconds

Charleston Light Sullivan’s Island, SC Daymark: triangular tower with black top half, white bottom half Nightmark: 2 white flashes every 30 seconds Eagle Harbor Light Eagle Harbor, Michigan Daymark: red brick; black lantern Nightmark: alternating white and red light every 20 seconds

Shipwreck Artifact Identification

LAMP maritime archaeologists found these artifacts at a shipwreck called the Storm Wreck. Located less than one mile off the coast of St. Augustine, the ship appears to have

carried both civilians and soldiers, most likely Loyalists at the end of the American Revolution (1780s).

Most artifacts are pictured BEFORE conservation, and some artifacts are so covered in concretions they have been x-rayed in order to be identified.

Your goal is to identify each artifact based on the clues and your observations

Artifacts Carronade Pewter Button Iron Cauldron Pewter Plate Lead Shot Tea Kettle Shoe Buckle Axe Head Gentleman’s Pocket Pistol Candlestick Pewter Spoon Ship’s Bell

Clues What Am I? I have a wooden stock and metal barrel I was likely owned by a wealthy gentleman I could be used for self-defense

I am an essential tool for chopping wood I am made of iron and have sharp edges I am made of pewter I made sure your shoes stayed on your feet I could be plain or decorated I am made of the metal lead and come in different sizes I was used inside guns I am made of bronze I was often inscribed with my ship’s name I had a clapper inside that made noise

Clues What Am I? I am made out of pewter I am often attached to clothes to help hold them together I may be decorated or plain I was used for cooking I could hold large amounts of liquid I am made of cast iron I could be used to make a typically British drink I am made of iron I could hold and heat liquid I was made by the Carron Company in Scotland I helped keep ships safe I could shoot 9-pound cannon balls I am made out of pewter Someone might use me to eat soup I am important at meal times I am made of pewter I hold food, but probably not soup Before electricity, I helped light a room I can be carried around I can be set on a table

If you would like more information about the Storm shipwreck, other sites that LAMP archaeologists have

worked on, or maritime archaeology in general, follow this link to explore LAMP’s website: http://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/LAMP/index.htm

What Am I? Artifact Identification Answer KEY

Clues What Am I? I have a wooden stock and metal barrel Gentleman’s Pocket Pistol I was likely owned by a wealthy gentleman I could be used for self-defense

I am an essential tool for building houses Axe Head My sharp edges are covered in concretions

I am made of pewter Shoe Buckle I made sure your shoes stayed on your feet I could be plain or decorated

I am made of lead and all different sizes Lead Shot I am used inside guns

I am made of bronze, but attached to the ship with wood Ship’s Bell I am often inscribed with my ship’s name I have a clapper inside that makes noise

I am made out of pewter Pewter Button

I help hold clothes together I may be decorated or stamped

I am used for cooking Iron Cauldron I can hold large amounts of liquid I am made of cast iron

I am used to make a typically British drink Tea Kettle I am made of iron I can hold and heat liquid

I was made by the Carron Company in Scotland Carronade I was used to defend ships I could shoot 9-pound cannon balls

I am made out of pewter Pewter Spoon

Someone might use me to eat soup

Before electricity, I helped light a room Candlestick I can be carried around I can be set on a table