Ignite the Spark of America's Founding — Join FIREWORKS250!
Thank you for the incredible response to FIREWORKS250! Our first cohort of teachers is finishing up their participation, and we are gearing up for our second cohort, which will launch September 2026. Please apply now if you are interested in participating during the upcoming school year.
You are eligible to apply if you meet the following conditions:
- You are currently employed as a teacher of English language arts and/or social studies in a Florida public elementary school and will have your own 5th-grade classroom for the entire 2026/27 school year.
- You will have regular access to your 5th-grade students so you can apply at least one lesson component (in addition to the lesson’s writing activity) with them for each of the nine lessons. (This is a required part of every chat and will require evidence of classroom application.)
- You did NOT participate in the spring 2026 FIREWORKS250 cohort.
Apply for the 2026/27 FIREWORKS250 Cohort
Teachers who participate in the cohort receive a stipend of $1,000 each, and schools can receive a school incentive if two or more teachers complete the required activities. In addition, participating teachers have the chance to earn an additional $500 stipend by attending all three days of the annual summer symposium. While stipends are exclusive to selected participants, all resources—identical to those provided to the participating teachers—will continue to be freely available on this website for all educators.
What is FIREWORKS250?
America’s 250th anniversary is a special moment in our nation’s history. It calls for a celebration, a deepening of our knowledge of the nation’s founding, and a recommitment to the founding principles articulated in the founding documents. To that end, the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) and the Institute for Governance and Civics (IGC) at Florida State University have developed the FIREWORKS250 initiative (Fostering Independence, Reflection, and Engagement through Wide-Reaching Outreach, Revolutionary Knowledge, and Student-Led Scholarship for America’s 250th Anniversary). Together, we have developed a program to deliver high-quality professional learning that will increase historical content knowledge and enhance teaching strategies. Through these efforts, we will commemorate the nation’s founding and enhance civics and literacy instruction throughout Florida.
FIREWORKS250 will include 22 evidence-based lessons over three years, virtual professional learning seminars to introduce these lessons, an essay contest for students in years 2 and 3, and an annual summer symposium for interested teachers in Tallahassee. The first seven lessons and seminars can be found here.
FIREWORKS250 Evidence-based Lessons
The FIREWORKS250 lessons align to Florida’s civics standards and four evidenced-based practices for improving adolescent literacy: (1) provide explicit vocabulary instruction, (2) provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction, (3) provide opportunities for extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation, and (4) increase student motivation and engagement in literacy learning. The lessons use primary sources from the National Archives (e.g., Preamble to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence) and supporting materials developed by scholars (e.g., essays and videos from the National Constitution Center) to ensure historical accuracy and engagement.
FIREWORKS250 Chats
In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt introduced the Fireside Chats to communicate complex policies in a relatable, conversational manner, fostering civic engagement. FIREWORKS250 chats modernize this approach using webinars. Delivered in a conversational format with expert-led discussions, the chats make civic content accessible for teachers and students using evidence-based lessons and associated resources. At the conclusion of the project, there will be 22 chats (7 in year 1, 9 in year 2, 6 in year 3) available for teachers provided in a four-part structure: (1) Deepen your knowledge independently using the lesson resources; (2) View a webinar on applying the evidence-based lesson in a podcast-style discussion led by FCRR experts; (3) Reflect on the lesson’s teaching strategies; and (4) Try out a lesson component with students and submit an individual reflection.
FIREWORKS250 Revolutionary Writers Essay Competition
In years 2 and 3, each model lesson will have a writing component that will include an essay prompt. The FIREWORKS250 essay competition will allow students to build on the essays written in their class throughout the year as a part of fostering civic and literacy skills. Students will compete at the class and state levels for awards each spring. Each participating class will select its best essay through a blind competition and submit this essay to the state-level competition.
FIREWORKS250 Annual Summer Symposium
All 180 teacher participants will be invited to attend the annual summer symposium in Tallahassee with a $500 stipend and hotel expenses paid. The symposium will engage participants in primary source documents, such as the Federalist Papers, George Washington’s Farewell Address, and the personal correspondence of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. These documents are invaluable resources for understanding the nation’s founding and the principles the founders sought to enshrine in the Constitution. It’s an opportunity to attend an immersive three-day symposium to enrich content knowledge regarding the nation’s founding and to develop skills in leading seminar style discussions with their students and lesson plan ideas to incorporate founding documents in their classrooms.
Year 1 FIREWORKS250 (Spring 2026): Chats 1-7
This Chat page offers the first set of learning sequences aligned with Florida’s Grade 5 Civics and Government standards, covering topics from the Declaration of Independence to the U.S. Constitution and early American government. Each Chat includes detailed resources for deepening your content knowledge of the American founding, a lesson plan with instructional strategies and expert help for bringing this content to life in your classroom, and next steps for classroom application and reflection. Let's dive in!
