Lesson Plan Four
“The Life of An Immigrant in the United States”
Grade Level: 3rd
Time Needed: 60 minutes (split over two 30 minute class periods)
Subject Area: Social Studies
Topic: Immigration
Sub Topic: The life of an immigrant
Standards addressed in this lesson:
NCSS Standards-
Thematic Standard IV- Individual Development and Identity
MMSD Standards-
Comprehension and Collaboration- 1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Behavioral Science- 7. Compare and contrast the culture of our local community to a different world culture.
Essential Questions:
· What challenges do immigrants face in regards to maintaining their culture and traditions?
· What challenges do immigrants face in daily life?
Materials Needed:
· How My Family Lives in America by Susan Kuklin
· I Hate English! by Ellen Levine and Steve Bjorkman
Objectives:
· SWBAT analyze and discuss the read aloud books and their relation to the lives of immigrant children
· SWBAT define assimilation
· SWBAT comprise a list of questions for our guest speakers about their experiences with immigration
· SWBAT engage in conversation with our guest speakers
· SWBAT reflect upon their conversations with our guest speakers
Prep:
· Find interviewees: talk with students’ parents to find relatives who are immigrants, talk with students in the school who are immigrants, etc.
o Explain to these individuals what will be going on and if they are willing to participate
Lesson Context:
The students have now learned what immigration is, who immigrates to the United States, what factors cause people to immigrate, and how to become a citizen of the United States. Now students will be exploring the lives of immigrants in the United States through read alouds, class discussions, and interviews of people who have immigrated to the United States.
Procedures:
Day One: Introduction and creating questions
· Read aloud of
o How My Family Lives in America by Susan Kuklin
o I Hate English! by Ellen Levine and Steve Bjorkman
o Discussion—What were these children’s lives like? Was it hard for them to live in the United States? What difficulties did they face? What did they do to keep their culture of their home country?
· Assimilation
o Write it on the board
o Ask students if they know what it is, gather their ideas on the board
o Help them to define assimilation— to conform or adjust to the customs, attitudes, etc., of a group, nation, or the like
§ Examples of this—how you dress, your speech/language, the activities you participate in, etc.
o Explain that assimilation is a big part of an immigrants life—many immigrants struggle to balance assimilation and holding on to the traditions and culture of their home country
**Note the importance of traditions and culture, assimilation today does not mean that you have to completely leave all of that behind
· Introduce what will be happening next class period
o Explain to the students that next class period we will be having numerous speakers come in to talk about their own personal experience with immigration
o The students will work on creating appropriate and informative questions to ask the speakers
§ Examples of questions could be—Where did you immigrate from? Where did your ancestors immigrate from? What traditions do you still participate in from your home country/heritage? Why did you or your ancestors immigrate?, What do you like about living in the United States?, What do you miss about where you used to live?, Was there anything they had to change about their day to day life once they came to the United States?, etc.
§ Examples of inappropriate questions—How old are you?, What is your job/how much do you make?, Where do you live?, etc.
o As a class we will pick ten questions to ask our guests
Day Two: Guest Speakers
· The guest speakers will come in and students will ask the questions that they created last class period
o Ten students will be assigned to ask the questions put together by the class—one question per student
· All students will be encouraged to take notes of the comments/answers from the speakers
Closing:
· The students will do a reflection of their experience meeting our guest speakers.
o Questions that the students can reflect on:
§ What did you take away from our discussions with our guest speakers?
§ What is your reaction to our discussions with our guest speakers?
§ Imagine that you are an immigrant to the United States, how would your life be different than it is now?
Assessment:
The students will be informally assessed throughout this lesson. I will be assessing students understanding of assimilation and the changes made to the lives of immigrants. This assessment will be done by listening to students discussions, through the creation of questions for our guest speaker, and through the students journal reflections.
“The Life of An Immigrant in the United States”
Grade Level: 3rd
Time Needed: 60 minutes (split over two 30 minute class periods)
Subject Area: Social Studies
Topic: Immigration
Sub Topic: The life of an immigrant
Standards addressed in this lesson:
NCSS Standards-
Thematic Standard IV- Individual Development and Identity
MMSD Standards-
Comprehension and Collaboration- 1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Behavioral Science- 7. Compare and contrast the culture of our local community to a different world culture.
Essential Questions:
· What challenges do immigrants face in regards to maintaining their culture and traditions?
· What challenges do immigrants face in daily life?
Materials Needed:
· How My Family Lives in America by Susan Kuklin
· I Hate English! by Ellen Levine and Steve Bjorkman
Objectives:
· SWBAT analyze and discuss the read aloud books and their relation to the lives of immigrant children
· SWBAT define assimilation
· SWBAT comprise a list of questions for our guest speakers about their experiences with immigration
· SWBAT engage in conversation with our guest speakers
· SWBAT reflect upon their conversations with our guest speakers
Prep:
· Find interviewees: talk with students’ parents to find relatives who are immigrants, talk with students in the school who are immigrants, etc.
o Explain to these individuals what will be going on and if they are willing to participate
Lesson Context:
The students have now learned what immigration is, who immigrates to the United States, what factors cause people to immigrate, and how to become a citizen of the United States. Now students will be exploring the lives of immigrants in the United States through read alouds, class discussions, and interviews of people who have immigrated to the United States.
Procedures:
Day One: Introduction and creating questions
· Read aloud of
o How My Family Lives in America by Susan Kuklin
o I Hate English! by Ellen Levine and Steve Bjorkman
o Discussion—What were these children’s lives like? Was it hard for them to live in the United States? What difficulties did they face? What did they do to keep their culture of their home country?
· Assimilation
o Write it on the board
o Ask students if they know what it is, gather their ideas on the board
o Help them to define assimilation— to conform or adjust to the customs, attitudes, etc., of a group, nation, or the like
§ Examples of this—how you dress, your speech/language, the activities you participate in, etc.
o Explain that assimilation is a big part of an immigrants life—many immigrants struggle to balance assimilation and holding on to the traditions and culture of their home country
**Note the importance of traditions and culture, assimilation today does not mean that you have to completely leave all of that behind
· Introduce what will be happening next class period
o Explain to the students that next class period we will be having numerous speakers come in to talk about their own personal experience with immigration
o The students will work on creating appropriate and informative questions to ask the speakers
§ Examples of questions could be—Where did you immigrate from? Where did your ancestors immigrate from? What traditions do you still participate in from your home country/heritage? Why did you or your ancestors immigrate?, What do you like about living in the United States?, What do you miss about where you used to live?, Was there anything they had to change about their day to day life once they came to the United States?, etc.
§ Examples of inappropriate questions—How old are you?, What is your job/how much do you make?, Where do you live?, etc.
o As a class we will pick ten questions to ask our guests
Day Two: Guest Speakers
· The guest speakers will come in and students will ask the questions that they created last class period
o Ten students will be assigned to ask the questions put together by the class—one question per student
· All students will be encouraged to take notes of the comments/answers from the speakers
Closing:
· The students will do a reflection of their experience meeting our guest speakers.
o Questions that the students can reflect on:
§ What did you take away from our discussions with our guest speakers?
§ What is your reaction to our discussions with our guest speakers?
§ Imagine that you are an immigrant to the United States, how would your life be different than it is now?
Assessment:
The students will be informally assessed throughout this lesson. I will be assessing students understanding of assimilation and the changes made to the lives of immigrants. This assessment will be done by listening to students discussions, through the creation of questions for our guest speaker, and through the students journal reflections.