Immigration to America: Advantages in America

Lesson # 7
Morgan Bortle
45 Minutes
Goal: Provide a deep understanding about the cultures, experiences, ancestry, opportunities -
and processes that accompany immigration.

Lesson Preparation
Goal: The purpose of this lesson is to have students recognize the many reasons that people
move from place to place (advantages in America for immigrants) and what those reasons are
based on the advantages of the new place or disadvantages of the place they are leaving.
Students will create their own chart to identify where they are moving to, what they are
bringing with them and why they are traveling there (advantages in America based on the
disadvantages of their home).
I. Learning Objectives
a. Students will be able to identify the reasons for why people are leaving their
home origin to migrate to another place.
b. Students will be able to list the advantages available in America for immigrants
from 1892-1954.
II. Standards by Discipline & Content Themes
a. 6.1.4.A. Identify scarcity of resources in a local community.
b. 6.1.4.D-Explain what influences the choices people make
c. Theme 4: Individual Development and Identity NCSS.1.4.c assist learners to
describe the ways family, religion, gender, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic
status, and other group and cultural influences contribute to the development of
sense of self.
d. Theme 4: Individual Development and Identity NCSS.1.4.h assist learners as they
work independently and cooperatively within groups and institutions to
accomplish goals.
III. Academic Language
a. Vocabulary:
i. Advantages- Putting something into a better position. Better
opportunities, more selection, freedom, continue family growth,
education
ii. Immigrant- A person who moves to a different country to live
permanently
b. Skills:
i. Writing
ii. Reading
iii. Using Personal Connections
iv. Researching Countries
v. Locating Places on a Map
 c. Concepts:
i. Advantages in America
ii. Disadvantages in other countries
iii. Economics- job opportunities, scarcity in home origins
iv. Choice to move or not
IV. Technology, Materials, Resources
a. Materials:
i. Book: Oh, the Places You’ll Go
ii. Construction Paper (Brown and White)
iii. Pencils
iv. Scissors
v. Glue
vi. Computers
vii. World Maps
viii. Star stickers
b. Technology:
i. Students will use computers to research advantages in America
compared to the disadvantages of the country the students selected.

Instructional Delivery
V. Anticipatory Set
a. The teacher will ask the students where they have traveled to before and why
they went to that place.
b. The teacher will ask where people would want to move to and the reason for
why they would want to go there. (Are there better things at this place, is the
weather better than here, etc.)
c. “Does anyone remember why people migrated to America?”
d. “Why do you think people would want to move their entire family to a new
location?”

VI. Instructional Activities

a. The teacher will have the class come to the circle and sit on a circle spot.
b. Teacher will ask the students the questions from the anticipatory set.
c. Teacher will read the book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go
i. While reading, teacher will ask the students questions
1. “Raise your hand if you would like to go to this place”
a. “Why would you like to go here? Is there an advantage of
going to this place?”
2. “Has anyone ever moved to a different house?”
a. “What was better about the new house and do you know
why you moved?”
d. After finishing the story, teacher will ask students comprehension questions
1. “Where did they travel compared to where they lived?”
 2. “Why do you think they went to the places they chose to move
to?”
a. Focus on advantages of the places traveled to
e. Students will go back to their seats and the teacher helper will help pass out the
materials to make a suitcase.
i. Brown construction paper,
ii. half a sheet of white construction paper,
iii. pair of scissors,
iv. glue stick
f. Students will make their suitcase while the teacher demonstrates how to make
one with step-by-step instructions
i. Start with the brown construction paper horizontal (hot dog style) on the
desk
ii. White paper can be cut into strips or triangles to create the design of the
suitcase
1. Remind students the safety of using scissors: only use on paper
and do not put the scissors near a friend while using them
iii. The suitcase will then be folded into three to create three separate
columns
iv. Inside the suitcase, students will write the titles at the top of the columns
1. “Where I’m Going”
2. “What I’m Bringing”
i. Teacher will remind students that they need to
think of things that people would have historically
based on the year they decide to use. “Students
cannot bring cellphones with them to America
because they were not an item that students had
access to”.
b. Students will pick one personal item to bring with them
(stuffed animal, clothes)
c. Students will pick one family item to bring with them
(family picture, photo album)
d. Students will pick one survival item to bring with them
(clothes, money)
e. Students will pick one other item to bring with them
3. Why I’ll Be There”
g. Students will be instructed to pick a place that immigrants traveled from and
pretend they live there
i. The students can select from the following places:
1. Russia
2. Italy
3. Ireland
4. China
5. Germany
 6. Japan
a. Once students pick a country that they are using as their
home country, they will locate the country on a map and
mark it with a star sticker.
b. The students will also locate America and mark that with a
star sticker.
c. Students will then draw a line to connect the home
country and new country of migration to show where
they’re moving to.
ii. Students need to pick a year from when they migrated to America and
write it on the front of their suitcase; years between 1892-1954
iii. Review the concepts related to immigration to the US (see Teacher Notes
listed under k)
1. Teacher will write the concepts on the board as reviewing for
students to use as a reference.
h. Next, they will have to decide on a place that they will travel from
i. “Think about where immigrants migrated from when they left their home
countries”
i. Then, students will research the country that they picked
i. Students are focusing on the disadvantages of that country and why they
would be leaving America
j. Then, students will fill in their suitcases with the information of where they are
traveling to (America), what they will bring with them (that would benefit them)
and the reasons for traveling there (think of the advantages of America
compared to where they’re moving from)
k. Finally, students will get in pairs with their peers and describe why they chose
the place they chose and what some of the advantages are of that place (Why
they are traveling their section of the suitcase)
l. TEACHERS NOTES:
i. http://www.history.com/topics/u-s-immigration-before-1965
1. Many immigrants came to America seeking greater economic
opportunity, while some, such as the Pilgrims in the early 1600s, arrived
in search of religious freedom. From the 17th to 19th centuries,
hundreds of thousands of African slaves came to America against their
will.
2. Search of freedom to practice their faith
3. Seeking economic opportunities
4. Against their will- black slaves from West Africa; forced into indentured
servitude
5. Buy farms, word of the Ca gold rush
6. Jews- fleeing religious persecution
ii. https://faculty.washington.edu/dechter/classes/Soc352/Readings/Foner-
Dreby_Relations%20Generations%20Immig%20Fam_AnnRevSoc_11.pdf
1. parents migrate without children- economic needs
2. women migrating alone
 a. Work
b. Support children while they live in their home country
3. Children migrate on their own
a. Parachute children: children migrate on own
b. Enhance child’s education
c. Job opportunities (children economically disadvantaged)
4. Transnational families
a. Tension, togetherness, commitment
b. Parents accommodate children’s needs
iii. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/why-people-migrate-11-surprising-
reasons/
1. to escape past or future persecution based on race, religion, nationality
2. to escape conflict or violence
3. find refuge after being displaced due to environmental factors
4. seek superior healthcare
5. escape poverty
6. offer more opportunities to children
7. family reunification
8. educational purposes
9. jobs and business opportunities
10. marriage

VII. Closure
a. Students will share with the class where they chose to migrate to and two of the
advantages of migrating to that place.
b. Students will hang their suitcases up to use as references.
c. Teacher will review the students input in their suitcases to see the overall
reasons for immigration that they used.

Meeting All Learners

VIII. Differentiation
a. Students who are developmentally behind and need more help will be allowed
to work with a peer and help them come up with the answers. Also, the teacher
will check up on these students and ask them questions to help gear them in the
correct direction.
i. “Where did people travel/move to when they left their home country?
Did they come to America?”
ii. “What do you think some important items would be to bring with them
when they moved here?”
b. For students that excel at this lesson, they will be asked to think of more
advantages of the place they are traveling to and relate the items that they are
bringing with them to the advantages.
i. For example: If one of their advantages is for education, they should
think of items to bring to help them continue their education, such as a
notebook or something to write with.
 c. To help the visual learners, the teacher will let the students have a list of certain
advantages in front of them along with it listed on the board. They can also have
an example of how the suitcase will look and will be able to see how it is
completed while the teacher goes through the steps of making the suitcase.
d. To help kinesthetic learners, the students will create the suitcase and use their
research to determine why they are moving to America. This will help them
because they will have the suitcase to use to reference their information and
material to help them learn by hands-on.

IX. Accommodations
a. To help a student with an IEP for ADHD, the student will be given more time to
come up with the answers for the project and can also do the project with
another student to help keep them on track.
X. Modifications
a. Students who need modifications will pick a place they would like to travel to
and identify what the advantages are of traveling to this place. These students
do not have to pretend they are one of the immigrants migrating and can relate
the activity to their personal life to help them better understand.

Meeting Objectives
XI. Assessments
a. Teacher will be able to look over the student’s work and what they wrote in their
suitcases to see if they were able to identify the reasons on why people were
traveling to where they were going and why they were leaving their place or
origin.
b. The teacher will also observe if the students were able to identify what things to
bring because of the scarcity of supplies where they’re going or where they’re
leaving from.
c. The teacher will observe the list of advantages in America for the immigrants to
see if the students understood the reasons for why people were migrating to
America and leaving their home countries. The teacher will be able to see if they
understood by the list they formed and if the list reflected the concepts
reviewed in class.
World Map Sheet: