European Immigration Thematic Unit

Group Members/Group Name: Katelynn Arroyo

Thematic Unit Theme/Title/Grade Level: Immigration/2nd Grade
Group Wiki space address: _______________________________________________________
Daily Lesson Plan Day/Title: Monday/Initial Lesson/Diary Entries
Lesson Length (ie. 30 minutes): Interactive Tour: 30 minutes (Reading Block); Virtual Tour: 30 minutes: (Social Studies Block; Diary Entries: 45
minutes (Writing Block); Total 90 minutes
Rationale for Instruction
A rationale is an essential part of
thoughtful planning of classroom
instruction. This is a brief written
statement of the purpose for instruction
and the connection of the purpose to
instruction that has come before and will
follow.

Learning Objectives
What will students know and be able to
do at the end of this lesson? Be sure to set
significant (related to NGSS Themes,
CCSS, and NGSSS), challenging,
measurable and appropriate learning
goals!

In order to embrace a culture of diversity in the classroom, elementary students should begin to
understand how various cultures became present in the United States. Students should learn about
immigration and the difficult process that many immigrants endured in coming to America seeking a
better life for themselves and their families. Students will begin to understand how immigration shaped
the nation and how our country became as diverse as it is today.
After viewing and participating in an Interactive Tour and Virtual Tour of Ellis Island online, the student
will be able to recall various facts about the difficulties many immigrants endured in coming to
America.
*The student will demonstrate this understanding by creating a diary entry, pretending to be a
European immigrant, and describing the processes and procedures immigrants had to go through at
Ellis Island before entering America, including at least three different examples from the tour.
After listening to excerpts from The Irish American Family Album, The Chinese American Family
Album, The Italian American Family Album, and The Jewish American Family Album, the student will
be able to recall common reasons why people immigrated to the United States and the important role
Ellis Island played in their journey coming to America.
*The student will demonstrate this understanding within their diary entry by explaining why their
character decided to immigrate to the United States from their home country.

NCSS Theme/Next
Generation Sunshine State
Standards/Common Core
Standards (LAFS/MAFS)
List each standard that will be addressed
during the lesson. Cutting and pasting
from the website is allowed. You must
have a minimum of 3 standards that
represent multiple content areas identified
in this portion of the lesson plan.

NCSS Theme: Culture Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study
of culture and cultural diversity, so that the learner can:
1. explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures
address similar human needs and concerns;
2. give examples of how experiences may be interpreted differently by people from diverse cultural
perspectives and frames of reference;
3. compare ways in which people from different cultures think about and deal with their physical
environment and conditions;
4. give examples and describe the importance of cultural unity and diversity within and across
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European Immigration Thematic Unit

These can be downloaded from the
Florida Dept of Education
www.cpalms.org/homepage/index.aspx.

Student Activities &

Procedures
Design for Instruction
What best practice strategies will be
implemented?
How will you communicate student
expectation?
What products will be developed and
created by students?
Consider Contextual Factors (learning
differences/learning environment) that
may be in place in your classroom.

groups.
SS.2.A.1.1 Examine primary and secondary sources.
SS.2.A.1.2 Utilize the media center, technology, or other informational sources to locate to locate
information that provides answers to questions about a historical topic.
SS.2.A.2.5 Identify reasons people came to the United States throughout history.
SS.2.A.2.6 Discuss the importance of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty to immigration from 18921954.
LAFS.2.W.1.3 Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of
events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event
order, and provide a sense of closure.
LAFS.2.SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and
texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
Introduction/Engagement: Gather students together in a circle on the front carpet for a class discussion.
Tell students that when you were younger, you used to keep a diary. Ask students, Do any of you keep a
diary? Ask students, What types of things do you write about in your diary? Explain to students that
in the past, people used to write about their experiences and all their feelings associated with those
experiences. Then tell students that immigrants often kept diaries of what it was like to come to
America.
Instructional Input and Procedures:
1. Ask students, Do you know what an immigrant is?
2. Listen to student responses and discussion.
3. Explain to students that an immigrant is a person who comes to live permanently in a foreign
country.
4. Ask students, Has anyone ever heard of Ellis Island?
5. Listen to student responses and discussion.
6. Explain to students that Ellis Island was the main immigration station from 1892-1954 and that
immigrants had to go through several checkpoints and pass in order to be allowed to go into
America.
7. Ask students, Why would people immigrate to America from other countries?
8. Listen to student responses and discussion.
9. Read excerpts, including diary entries, about why specific families came to America from The
Irish American Family Album, The Chinese American Family Album, The Italian American
Family Album, and The Jewish American Family Album to students.
10. Show students what an example of a diary entry looks like.
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European Immigration Thematic Unit

11. Next, have students go to the computers (or take students to the media center for computer time).
Students may work with a partner or in a small group.
12. Have students go to the Scholastic website:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/
13. Explain to students that the Interactive Tour they are going to view is a secondary source, which
is a source about an event, period, or issue in history that was produced after that event, period
or issue has passed.
14. Give students time to take the Interactive Tour of Ellis Island and read descriptions of all the
stops, look at photographs and listen to audio clips about the stops. Students should take notes
for future reference for their diary entry.
15. When you take students back to the classroom, ask students, How would you feel if you had to
go through this process?
16. Listen to student responses and discussion.
17. Ask students, How do you think immigrants felt?
18. Listen to student responses and discussion.
19. Ask students, What do you think the inspectors were thinking as they were checking
immigrants?
20. Listen to student responses and discussion.
21. Next, play the Virtual Tour of Ellis Island for students to watch so that they can see the
Interactive Tour of Ellis Island they were just on in action.
22. After viewing the Virtual Tour of Ellis Island, explain to the students that they will be writing a
diary entry about being an immigrant and going through the immigration process at Ellis Island.
23. Have students pick out a country to be from, a name, and to create a background for their person
including the reason or reasons why they chose to immigrate to the United States.
24. Explain to students that they will need to include experiences from at least three stops that
immigrants had to take while going through the process at Ellis Island. These experiences can
come from what students learned from the Interactive Tour or Virtual Tour of Ellis Island from
the Scholastic website. Allow students to use their notes or computers in the classroom to look
back at the Interactive Tour of Ellis Island for extra research if needed.
25. Give students time to complete their diary entry.
26. Students who wish to share their diary entry with the class may do so.

Resources/Materials

Closure: After students complete this assignment, provide closure by explaining to students that this
type of treatment is no longer given to immigrants and today they are treated much better and
differently.
Excerpts from:
Hoobler, D. (1994). The Chinese American family album. NY: Oxford University Press.
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European Immigration Thematic Unit

Hoobler, D. (1994). The Irish American family album. NY: Oxford University Press.
Hoobler, D. (1994). The Italian American family album. NY: Oxford University Press.
Hoobler, D. (1995). The Jewish American family album. NY: Oxford University Press.
Interactive and Virtual Tour of Ellis Island from:
(2015). Immigration: stories of yesterday and today. Scholastic. Retrieved from
http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/

Assessment
How will student learning be assessed?
Authentic/Alternative assessments?
Does your assessment align with your
objectives, standards and procedures?
Informal assessment (multiple modes):
participation rubrics, journal entries,
collaborative planning/presentation
notes

Exceptionalities
What accommodations or modifications
do you make for ESOL, Gifted/Talented
students, Learning/Reading disabilities,
etc.
These accommodations and/or
modifications should be listed within the
procedures section of the lesson plan as
well as in this section of the document.

Additional Comments and

Notes

*If computers are not available in the classroom, the teacher would need to schedule computer time in
the media center for students to go through the interactive tour of Ellis Island.
Unit Pre-Assessment: Students will complete the K (What I Know) and W (What I Wonder) from a
KWL chart about the topics of immigration, Ellis Island, and why people leave their home country and
immigrate to the United States.
Unit Post-Assessment: Students will demonstrate learning by completing the L (What I Learned) from
their KWL charts they did prior to the start of this unit.
Daily Lesson Plan Assessment: Formative throughout the lesson.
Informal discussion before Interactive Tour of Ellis Island
Informal discussion after Interactive Tour of Ellis Island
Diary entry
ESOL: Students with Learning Differences: SLIDE (Show, Look, Investigate, Demonstrate, Experience)
and TREAD (Tell, Read, Explain, Ask/Answer, Discuss) http://education.ucf.edu/stll/edg4410New.cfm
(appropriate for students based on need), graphic organizers, cooperative learning, flexible grouping,
printed materials for group tasks.
Gifted/Talented: Multi-level and multi-dimensional aspects of the lesson, interactive nature of the
lesson, opportunity to explore many points of view and opportunity to analyze and evaluate material,
opportunity for independent projects (student suggested/identified), flexible grouping.
If students need extra time to complete their diary entry, students may take their diary entry home to
complete as homework.
As an extension to the lesson plan, students can virtually meet young immigrants who have recently
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European Immigration Thematic Unit

immigrated to the United States from other countries through the Meet Young Immigrants section on
the Scholastic website referenced above. Students who are immigrants themselves may share their
stories with the class.

Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115

European Immigration Thematic Unit

Name:______________________________________

Diary Entry Rubric

Punctuation
Student uses
accurate punctuation.
Capitalization
Student uses capital
letters for beginning
of sentences, names
and places.
Grammar
Student uses
subject/verb
agreement and writes
complete sentences
that make sense.
Content/Ideas
Student writes on
topic and adds details
including three
experiences
immigrants went
through during their

Needs
Improvement

Unsatisfactory

Satisfactory

Outstanding

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European Immigration Thematic Unit

time at Ellis Island as
well as the reason or
reasons why their
character immigrated
to the United States.
Spelling
Student writes most
sight words correctly
and applies spelling
rules.

Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115