Why do people migrate, and how does the process of migrating effect people and countries?
Lesson Overview
Grade Level: 2
Duration: 2 lessons, 45 minutes each
Supporting Questions: How has immigration shaped the U.S.A.? How long does it take for a new country to feel like home? In what ways do immigrants change after they move? In what ways do they stay the same?
What Students Will Produce : By the end of the lesson, each students will have completed a 3-part graphic organizer that they will use to guide their future work.
What Students Will Learn: Through a guided reading activity, jigsaw activity, and self-directed research, students will develop and demonstrate understanding of migration as a process that: 1) has shaped the U.S.A. 2) results from a variety of causes; and 3) involves a process of adjustment that can be unique to individuals.
Procedures
Before Lessons: Gauge student familiarity with and attitudes towards migration/immigration. Also identify understanding of essential vocabulary for the lesson, including: immigration, migration, process, adjustment/adaptation/assimilation.
Opening: Ask students if they know where pizza came from. Then, use this article to connect immigration to something that students are familiar with. Extend to other foods, sports, and other student interests (like Google being founded by immigrants).
Whole Class Reading: Lead the class through a reading of Faith Ringgold’s “We Came to America”, pausing after each page to connect the book to students’ background knowledge (of indigenous people, slavery, refugees, and personal knowledge of immigrants). Take time to analyze the art as well – for clues about geography, historical context, and the nature of the migration. Give students time to start filling out their graphic organizer after the reading.
Jigsaw Activity: Divide students into initial groups to view/read one of several stories of young people who immigrated to the U.S.A. (link). Facilitate student group discussion, and give students time to work on their graphic organizers in their initial groups. Then mix up students from the initial groups to form new groups that consisting of students who have learned about a unique immigration experience so that students can compare notes (using graphic organizers for support). Provide time for students to add information to their organizers.
Self-directed Exploration: Provide students time to go through a list of curated content on this own. Once again, ask students to continue updating their graphic organizers. Here are some starting points:
What is a refugee by Elise Gravel
All the way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel by Dan Yaccarino
Interviews with young immigrants
Website about immigration for kids
Closing: end the lesson by introducing the final product that students will be creating, and connect the project to what they learned in the past two lessons (for example, they will be documenting someone else’s experience immigrating, just like the stories/videos the students learned from). Explain how the project will work using a visual representation of the process (on a board, for example), and refer back to this visual throughout the unit.
Related Curriculum Standards
Massachusetts Social Studies: MA 2.T3 “History: Migration and Cultures”
C3 Social Studies: D2.Civ.10.K2 “Compare their own point of view with others’ perspectives”
List of Resources
- Access to the internet through a computer or tablet.
- 3-part graphic organizer
Websites
- Interviews with young immigrants
- Ellis island tour
- Website about immigration for kids
- Article on the history of pizza
- World migration map
- U.S. Immigration over time
Books