Author - Teri Hinrichsen
Category - Lesson Plans, Social Studies, Immigration
Lesson Plan Duration - 1 day(s)
Grade Level - 6-8,9-12,13,esl

Lesson Plan Description

This lesson will provide the framework for a unit on Mexican immigrants in the United States. Students will gain a deeper understanding of immigration from a historical perspective. It could also be used as a lesson for students learning about colonial times.

Primary Learning Objective(s):

 

Identify core reasons why people immigrate to another country such as religion and economy.

 

Additional Learning Objective(s):

 

Reading and writing about U.S. immigrants.

Journaling about personal experiences with immigration.

 

Procedures/Activities:

 
  • Quick Write- Why did your family immigrate to the United States?
  • Review unit goals and objectives
  • Cooperative Groups- Why do people immigrate to the U.S. today?
  • Read Aloud- Historical passage about first immigrants to the United States
  • Partner Read/Questioning- reread historical passage
  • Whole class- Were reasons for first immigrants coming to U.S. similar or different to reasons why people immigrate today?
  • Journaling: Were reasons for first immigrants coming to U.S. similar or different to reasons why people immigrate today? What did you already know? What surprised you about what we discussed today?
  • Discuss who students will interview and add to ongoing list of interview questions.
  • Ask students for articles for the "Immigration in the News" bulletin board.
  • Distribute Take Home Question-  Share with your parents what you have learned about the history of immigration in the United States.  Of the different reasons for immigrating that we have discussed (economy, religion, land, etc.) which do they identify most with?
  • Exit Pass-Write one thing you learned on an index card (or small piece of paper) and give to teacher before leaving the room

Materials/Equipment:

Historical text about U.S. immigrants.  Text could contain information about English, French, and Spanish coming to the United States.

 

Assessment Guidelines:

Journal entry serves as an informal assessment piece to measure student's understanding of reasons for immigration.  Students will write an essay about the history of immigration in the United States as their formal assessment.