What is Immigration?
An Introduction

Grade Level: 4th Grade                                                                                         Subject: Social Studies
Time Needed: About 40 minutes                                                                          Topic: Immigration


What School of Education Standards did you try to address in this lesson?
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Standard 1: Incorporates Understanding of Human Learning and Development: This lesson is designed with fourth graders in mind.  It also considers how they could be introduced to the topic of immigration in a meaningful way.
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Standard 8: Employs Varied Assessment Processes: In this lesson I will use multiple forms of assessment.  The majority of assessment will occur during our Wordle activity as they describe what immigration means to them.  It will also come during our discussion at the end as we write about what they know/have learned already and would like to know more about.
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Standard 11: Uses Technologies: This lesson uses the internet to create a Wordle out of student responses to the question “What does immigration mean?”
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Standard 12: Accommodates for All Students: The specific accommodations I have made for my students are listed throughout this document.
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Standard 13: Is a Reflective Practitioner: As an educator I am constantly reflecting on how my lessons are going as well as how my teaching affects my students.  Not only would I reflect on this lesson afterwards, but I would also plan to make adjustments during the lesson as I saw it develop.


MMSD Standards

Behavioral Science

·     
Compare and contrast individual perspectives and differences
Language Arts

·     
Make connections with text by activating prior knowledge before, during, and after reading.
·     
Synthesize by connecting new information with prior understandings.


NCSS Standards

·     
Time, continuity, and change
·     
People, places, and environment
·     
Individuals, groups, and institutions

 
Essential Questions

Overall:

·     
What is immigration?
Specific:

·     
What does immigration mean to us?
·     
What has immigration looked like in the United States?

 
Materials Needed:

·     
Computer with internet
·     
Wordle website: http://www.wordle.net
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Projector
·     
Coming to America: The Story of Immigration by Betsy Maestro
·     
Chart paper
·     
Markers

 
Objectives

·     
SWBAT describe what immigration means to them.
·     
SWBAT analyze immigration in the United States after listening to a read aloud.
·     
SWBAT discuss what they know about immigration and what they would like to learn more about.

 
Lesson Context
 
            This lesson is the first in a unit on immigration.  During the lesson students will be introduced to the subject and will create a class Wordle.  We will then do a read aloud and will talk about some of the things they learned during the book.  We will also create a list of things the class would like to learn more about during the unit.


Lesson Opening
 
            The lesson will begin by me telling students that we are going to be starting a new unit on immigration.  I will then ask them to think for a few minutes about the question “What does immigration mean?”


Procedures

1.    
After giving students a few minutes to think about the question, I will go around the room and have each student say 1-2 words that describes what immigration means to them.  As each student gives their response I will record them using Wordle (http://www.wordle.net), a great resource that creates word clouds.

2.    
Once I have all of the responses I will create the word cloud and use a projector to show it to the class (see sample Wordle).  We will have a discussion about some of the things they notice about their responses and what this tells us about their thinking.  I will tell them that we will be doing the same activity at the end of the unit to see how their ideas might have changed or stayed the same since now.

3.    
Next, I will do a read aloud to introduce my students to the topic of immigration.  I recommend reading excerpts from Coming to America: The Story of Immigration by Betsy Maestro, although there are tons of great children’s books available on the topic.  Throughout the read-aloud I will ask interactive questions to get them thinking about some of the key issues of immigration and what it has looked like historically in America.

 
Closing

            After competing the read-aloud, the lesson will end with us creating a list of things we have already learned or know about immigration on a large piece of chart paper.  We will also create one that talks about things we want to learn more about during our unit.  I will be using these things to plan my future lessons and teaching. 

 
Special Considerations and Accommodations:

·     
In an effort to accommodate the individual differences in the class this lesson incorporates several different activities including a Wordle, reading aloud with attention to interactive questions, and a large group discussion.
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During the discussion and read aloud it will be important for me to make sure I call on each of my students and to allow everyone, especially those who tend to be more reserved, to express their ideas.
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I will be using the information students provide to inform my future instruction and lessons.


Assessment:
 
            I will be using the Wordle activity as an initial assessment of what my students know about immigration and what it means.  I will also use our large group discussion and the chart we made about what we know/learned and want to know more about to plan my future instruction.