Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan

Group Members/Group Name: Jessica Sedalor and Patricia Rivera

Thematic Unit Theme: Time, Continuity, and Change
Lesson 3 Title: The Journey to America
Grade Level: 2nd Grade
Group Weebly space address: Http://secondgradeadventurers.weebly.com/
Lesson Length: 55 minutes
Rationale for Instruction Deciding whether to come to America was a hard decision for many to make. Although there were
many push and pull factors that helped immigrants decide that coming to America was the best decision,
the journey was generally not easy. Many immigrants had to leave everything they ever knew behind;
this meant their children, parents, homes, pets, jobs, valuables, and multiple other things. They had to
travel to ports, sometimes many miles away. They had to wait days or even months before they could
board a ship to America. Once onboard, conditions were generally terrible, especially for those
traveling in steerage. Several people died, most people got sick, and the environment was extremely
unsanitary. Students should begin to understand the struggles that immigrants went through to make it
to America and realize that despite the difficulties they had to endure to get there, they still chose to go.
NCSS Theme/Next NCSS THEME:
Generation Sunshine State Time, Continuity, and Change: Human beings seek to understand their historic roots and to locate
Standards/Common Core themselves is time. Knowing what things were like in the past and how things change and develop helps
Standards (LAFS/MAFS) us answer important questions about our current conditions.

SOCIAL STUDIES
SS.2.A.1.1- examine primary and secondary sources.

LANGUAGE ARTS
LAFS.2.RL.1.1- Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to
demonstrate key details in a text.

LAFS.2.SL.1.2- Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented
orally or through other media.

LAFS.2.SL.2.6- Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide
requested details or clarification.
Learning Objectives  The student will differentiate between primary and secondary sources by giving an example of
each and explaining what make them either primary or secondary sources with at least 90%
accuracy.

 The student will use the questions who, what, when, where, and why to recount key details from
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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
a story with 90% accuracy.

 The student will answer questions about a story by stating key details from the story in complete
sentences with 90% accuracy.

Student Activities & Vocabulary

Procedures The unit on immigration can prove to have some challenging words for second grade students. To help
Design for Instruction students navigate through the vocabulary, encourage the students to record their words in Alpha-boxes-
throughout the unit. (Click here for student Alpha-box.) Possible vocabulary words that you may want
to bring your students attention to are highlighted in Red throughout the lesson plans. (ESOL)

At the beginning of class:

 Remind students that they should have their Alpha-boxes out on their desks in case they need to
record new vocabulary words.
 Provide a short review of push and pull factors studied yesterday.

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Alpha-boxes

ANTICIPATORY SET:
Poem:
1. Pass out Where Are We Going poem to each student.
2. Tell students that today they are going to learn about the long journeys that immigrants took
across the Atlantic Ocean to get to America 100 years ago.
 Present a map of the world and point out the long distance between America and the
countries on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. (ESOL)
1. Ask students:
a. Have you ever traveled someplace new or moved somewhere new? How did you feel before
you went there? How did you feel after you arrived?
 Create an anchor chart to record feelings felt before and after travels.
1. Read Where Are We Going poem aloud to students. Then, read it again, only this time invite
students to echo read with you (ESOL).
2. Pass out Poetry Response sheets to students, complete activity as a class.
a. What is the main idea of the poem?
 What do they think it would be like to be an immigrant leaving their homeland to travel to a
new place?

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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
 What are some reasons why immigrants might travel to America? (Spoke about yesterday)
 How do they think the immigrants might have felt and why?

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Rereading
 Choral Reading

INSTRUCTIONAL INPUT AND PROCEDURES:

Write the following on the board:

 How did immigrants get to America and what were their journeys like 100 years ago?
 Ask students to share their ideas on how they think immigrants came to America 100 years
ago and what they think the journey was like.

Order of Events Picture Sort:

1. Teacher will present students with pictures of the following events (Printout labeled Travel
Sequence of Events Sort).
 Saved money.
 Packed things to take with them.
 Traveled to port with their packed things and waited to board the steamship.
 Said goodbye and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to get to America.
- Give students some time for Think-Pair-Share and then call on students to help place the picture
cards in order on the board. Guide students through activity as needed until pictures are in the
above order.
(Leave on board throughout lesson for students to refer to.)
2. Discuss the order of events:
 Explain to students that immigrants had to save money before they could travel to America.
Ask students: Do your families need to save money before traveling, too?
 Ask students to share some of the items that they chose to pack in their pillow case
homework activity. Do they think that these items would be the same items that the
immigrants chose to pack?
 Tell students that once the immigrants decided to go to America and had packed, many of
them had to travel to get to the steamships.
 Explain that the journey across the ocean was not like it is today. Many laws that we have
today that require cleanliness were not in affect yet. The journeys took a long time, the
people were crowded together, and there were lots of sickness.
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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
 Ask students, “If the journeys were hard, why do you think immigrants would have still
chosen to go?”

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Think-Pair-Share
 Post pictures to enhance understanding.

Teacher Read aloud:

1. Show students the book and explain that you are going to read The Land of Opportunity by
Peggy Bresnick Kendler.
 Ask: What do you think the land of opportunity is? What might the book be about?
 State that the book is a secondary resource and explain primary/secondary resources to
students. Project student friendly definition of each type of source on the board and ask
students to be thinking of what type of resource this book is as you read.
o Primary sources: a firsthand account of an event or topic. It is where someone tells
you his/her own story.
o Secondary sources: Secondhand account of an event or topic. It is when a story is
researched and told by someone else.
1. Begin reading the story, stop at end of page 5 to discuss:
o Was saving for the trip easy for most immigrants? What makes you think this? Did
families always travel together? Why might families not travel together? Knowing
that many times families would be separated, do you think that some of the items
immigrants chose to bring might be meaningful things that remind them of their
families and things they loved back home? Were any of the items you packed
meaningful because they came from someone you loved or reminded you of someone
you love?
2. Present examples of physical artifacts that immigrants might bring with them. Allow students
to explore the types of artifacts while you explain that immigrants could not bring much with
them when they traveled; they could only bring what they could carry. Discuss artifacts
brought and why:
o Suitcase: something to hold their belongings in.
o Tea set: a family heirloom- something passed down to family members for many
generations.
 This choice represents objects of great value and/or importance that
immigrants may have brought- if they had room for them.
o Hat, jacket, sweater, socks: clothes to wear.
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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
o Ask students, what would it be like to take only a few things and then leave
everything else behind? DO you think that it was an easy thing to do? Why?
3. Continue reading The Land of Opportunity- stop at page 7.
o Point out the Subtitle A Long and Perilous Journey and explain the word perilous.
 Perilous- something very dangerous and risky.
o Discuss whether this is a primary or secondary source and why.

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Tangible items to provide visual and physical representation of items.

Primary and Secondary Source Sort:

1. Hand out Primary and Secondary Source T-Chart and Primary/Secondary pictures.
2. Restate what primary and secondary sources are and guide students through sorting pictures
onto the chart.
3. Ask students to write The Land of Opportunity under the source category that they think it
should go.

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Familiar Graphic organizer, picture sort

Morris Remembers the Steamship:

1. Play recording of Morris explaining his journey to America on the steamship for students but
explain the word
Steerage.
 Steerage: a section of a boat where people who paid the lowest prices for tickets are
accommodating.
2. After recording discussion:
 Who was telling the story?
 Is this a primary or secondary resource? How do you know?
 What was he explaining?
 How did Morris explain his journey? Was it nice?
 What happened to his sister right after they left?
 Were there a lot of people in steerage? Do you remember how many?
 What did it smell like?
 Did they have air conditioning? Was it clean? Why not?
 Does this sound like a nice trip to you? Why not?
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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
3. Direct all students to a small section of the classroom, leaving them very little room, and ask
them if it would be
comfortable to live this close to one another for the next few weeks. Have them imagine trying
to lay down. What if
someone threw up? What if you needed to go get food, would it be hard to walk through the
crowd of people and
get where you needed to go?
4. Have students return to their desks by having students in the center try to work their way out of
the crowded space
first.
5. Have students write Morris Remembers the Steamship on their Primary and Secondary Source
Sort- under the
category they believe it belongs to.

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Slow recording down so students can have extra time to process the language.
 Have students move to small area and let them feel how cramped it would be.

Tracking our sequence:

1. Point to the picture sequence on the board. Ask students which events have been addressed
from the list. Is there
anything that they notice? Have we missed a step in the sequence? Which one?
2. Remind students of The Blessing Cup read aloud from yesterday and discuss the following:
 Did Anna and her family easily drive over to the shore and go to America? How did they get
there? Was it a hard trip? What made it hard? Did they have a long journey ahead of them
before making it to the port? Do you think that the boat was there waiting for them when
they arrived?
3. Background information to discuss:
 The difficult journey of an immigrant generally started before leaving home. They had to say
goodbye to loved ones and choose only a few items to keep.
 The port was not always close to where immigrants lived. Many had to travel by train,
wagon, and/or foot to get to the port.
 Sometimes they had to wait days, or even months, before they could leave. They had to have
their tickets, passports, and a ship to board.
 They were asked a series of up to 31 questions such as: name, date of birth, age, occupation,
last home address, name and address of relatives, physical and mental health, if they had
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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
$25, and/or if they were polygamists or anarchists.
 They would be given a quick medical examination and any needed vaccinations.
 Once everything was in order, they finally boarded the ship.
o Steerage passengers were taken down steep stairways to lower decks. Many people
were crowded together in this area and there was no fresh air. Many would die, and
most would get sick.

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Use gestures.
 Use picture sequence posted on board to help students identify what has been addressed.
 Provide Think time to allow all students time to process question and come up with
answers.

Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story:

1. Have students watch the read aloud.
2. Pause periodically for discussion and questions:
 Were Annie and her brothers traveling with their parents or any other grown up?
 How long had it been since they last saw their parents?
 Where were they living at while their parents were in America?
 Do you think it would be hard to make this trip on your own? What would make it hard?
 How did they get their tickets?
 Did everyone on the ship speak English?
 Do you think they liked the food on the ship? Why or why not?
 Did they have a pleasant trip over? How do you know?

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Pause read aloud occasionally to simplify language and ask clarifying questions.
 Incorporate leveled questions to include student.

Writing Prompt:
1. Provide students a writing prompt to evaluate student understanding. As students complete their
work, have student
read work to you and provide feedback/clarification. If needed, have students revise their
writing.
 Writing Prompt:
o Pretend you are an immigrant 100 years ago. Explain what your journey is like.
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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
Remember, you have to work very hard to save money for your trip. Then, you must
pack only a few items to go with you- only what you can carry. Next you must travel
to the port. Finally, you must board a steamship and travel across the Atlantic Ocean
for 2-4 weeks.

* ESE/ESOL ACCOMMODATIONS:
 Have student draw what it would look like if they were an immigrant long ago.
 Add words to the drawings to help provide clarification.
 Follow up with teacher and go over work.
 Have student complete the activity with the help of an ESOL teacher- if possible.
Assessment Unit Pre-Assessment: Have the students play an immigration Scoot Game with the following
questions: Immigration Scoot Game.

Unit Post-Assessment: Have the students play an immigration Scoot Game with the following
questions: Immigration Scoot Game.

Daily Lesson Plan Assessment:

Formative:
 Observation of questions and answers throughout lesson
 Primary and Secondary Source Sort
 Identify missing component in the sequence
 Evaluation of writing prompts
Resources/Materials  The Land of Opportunity
Bresnick Kendler, P. (n.d.). The Land of Opportunity. Retrieved April 03, 2018, from https://
www.dvusd.org/cms/lib/AZ01901092/Centricity/Domain/3165/land_of_opportunity_1_5A.pdf
Pages 1-7
 Morris Remembers the Steamship recording:
Ellis Island Oral History Collection. (n.d.). Video (U.S. National Park Service). Retrieved April 08,
2018, from https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=2C668E32-155D-451F-
672ECBF9F8296CA9
 Dreaming of America
Gambuti, N. (2014, October 18). Dreaming of America 1. Retrieved April 08, 2018, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsASGDLc8zw&t=7s
 Where Are We Going? Poem & poetry response page 7 -8
Teaching in Stripes. (n.d.). Immigration: Literacy Resources to Teach About Immigration and Ellis
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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
Island. Retrieved April 08, 2018, from
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Immigration-Literacy-Resources-to-Teach-About-
Immigration-and-Ellis-Island-1325595

MATERIALS:
 Where Are We Going? Poem
 Poetry Response worksheet
 Picture sort document
 Tape
 Internet
 Morris Remembers the Steamship recording
 The Land of Opportunity access
 Pencil- for each student
 Dreaming of America book or access to video
 T-Chart Primary and Secondary Source sort.

Exceptionalities ESOL; Students with Learning Differences:

 Alpha-boxes
 Gestures
 Rereading and Choral Reading
 Think-Pair-Share and post pictures to enhance understanding.
 Tangible items to provide visual and physical representation of items.
 Slow recording down so students can have extra time to process the language.
 Picture sequence posted on board to help students identify what has been addressed.
 Show what it would be like.
 Picture Sort for Primary and Secondary Source identification
 Provide Think time to allow all students time to process question and come up with answers.
 Pause read aloud occasionally to simplify language and ask clarifying questions.
 Incorporate leveled questions to include student.
 Have students draw pictures to represent what his/her journey is like.
 Add words to the drawings to help provide clarification.
 Follow up with teacher and go over work.
 ESOL teacher assistance

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 Social Studies: Wednesday’s Lesson Plan
Gifted/Talented:
 Have student research and provided additional details about an immigrants’ journey to America.
 While addressing the writing prompt, have student try to incorporate at least 3 new vocabulary
words.
 Have student make a list of other struggles that he/she imagines immigrants might have faced.
 Have student compare what he/she knows about immigration today and immigration 100 years
ago.

Additional Comments and

Notes

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