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: Friday/Immigration Wrap-Up
Lesson Length (ie. 30 minutes): 1 hour (Social Studies/Writing Block)
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!

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

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 participating in a class discussion reviewing the content that we have covered this week in the
previous four lessons in the unit, the student will be able to recall various facts about the difficulties
many immigrants endured in coming to America.
*The student will demonstrate their understanding of what they have learned in the unit by creating
a mind map describing reasons why people migrated to the United States, the difficult journey
across the Atlantic Ocean, and the processes and procedures immigrants had to go through at Ellis
Island before entering America.
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
groups.
Time, Continuity, & Change Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the
study of the ways human beings view themselves in and over time, so that the learner can:
1. demonstrate an understanding that different people may describe the same event or situation in
diverse ways, citing reasons for the differences in views;
2. compare and contrast different stories or accounts about past events, people, places, or situations,
identifying how they contribute to our understanding of the past;
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European Immigration Thematic Unit

3. demonstrate an understanding that people in different times and places view the world differently.
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.
SS.2.A.2.7 Discuss why immigration continues today.
SS.2.A.2.8 Explain the cultural influences and contributions of immigrants today.

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.

LAFS.2.W.3.7 Participate in shared research or writing projects.

LAFS.2.W.3.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to
answer a question.
Introduction/Engagement: Gather students together in a circle on the front carpet for a read-aloud of
Coming to America: The Story of Immigration. This book is a great read-aloud to wrap-up the
immigration unit; the author points out that when Christopher Columbus discovered America, there
were already people living there, the harsh treatment of native Americans and the forced immigration of
Africans. Maestro explains the laws that the US adopted to control immigration, a brief history of Ellis
Island and immigration highlights.
Instructional Input and Procedures:
1. After the read-aloud, have students return to their desks and explain to them that they are going
to take some time to individually process what they have learned this week throughout the
immigration unit they have been working on.
2. Have students take out their KWL charts that they began to work on before they started working
on this unit. The K and W sections should already be filled out.
3. Individually have students complete the L section on their KWL chart. Tell students that as they
are reflecting on what they have learned in the unit, to also try to answer any questions they had
in the W section of their chart.
4. After students complete their KWL charts, bring the class back together on the front carpet.
5. Together as a class, have the students brainstorm what they have learned in the overall unit.
Write the students ideas they share on the whiteboard.
6. Ask the students if they have any questions in the W section of their KWL charts that have not
been answered. As a class, see if the students can answer those questions.
7. Ask students to share if there is anything else they are still wondering or want to learn.
8. Discuss this further.
9. After this discussion and reviewing the content learned from the previous four lessons this week,
ask students to identify overall concepts that were covered.
10. On the whiteboard, list these concepts for students to see.
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European Immigration Thematic Unit

11. Explain to the class that they are going to be creating a mind map to tie together everything that
they have learned about immigration.
12. Show students examples of what mind maps are.
13. Tell students that immigration is the central idea/concept they have learned about and the
categories on the whiteboard are concepts within immigration that are important to learn about.
14. Tell students that for each concept, they should include an illustration of the concept, and map
out important details that they have learned throughout the unit.
15. After students complete their individual immigration mind maps, have the students share with
the class some of their ideas and create a classroom mind map on a large poster board.

Resources/Materials
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

Closure: Wrap-up this unit by explaining to students that immigration still occurs today for many of the
same reasons as why people immigrated to the United States in the late 1800s to early 1900s.
Immigration today is not as hard as it was during that time period and the journey to America is not as
harsh or difficult as it was on the steamships. Immigrants still face many challenges today like they did
during the time period being studied including difficulty speaking English, finding jobs, and earning a
decent living.
Maestro, B. (1996). Coming to America: The Story of Immigration. NY: Scholastic Press.
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.

What accommodations or modifications

do you make for ESOL, Gifted/Talented
students, Learning/Reading disabilities,
etc.

Daily Lesson Plan Assessment: Formative throughout the lesson.

Mind map
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.

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.

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.

Exceptionalities

Additional Comments and

Notes
Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115

European Immigration Thematic Unit

Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115