Grade 3

Lesson Understanding why people migrate. Standards Strand 2: Time Continuity and Change Children in the early grades are able to locate themselves within time and space. Strand 3: People, Places and Government The study of people, places and environments enables us to understand the relationship between human populations and the physical world. Objectives: Students will be able to identify the several push and pull factors that influence migration. Students will be able to identify reasons why people migrate after reading First Day in Grapes by L. King Perez. Warm up Activity: The teacher asks, what is migration? Especially pertinent in the Fall and Spring, a starting point for students may be to consider the migration patterns of animals. The teacher will organize their assertions in a What?/Why?/How? Graph, visible to all students. Guiding questions include: Can people migrate, as well? Are the reasons people migrate any different from the reasons animals migrate? If this conversation remains difficult to access, I will access questions such as: Have you ever moved? What did it feel like? Do you know why your family moved? (5 minutes) Direct Instruction: Students join the teacher by the carpet for a read aloud. The book The First Day in Grapes is introduced by its author and title. The teacher asks students if they understand what the title means? They are encouraged to consider this throughout the book. Since the lesson is explicit, students will be told to consider how migration is presented in the story. Briefly stated, The First Day in Grapes is the story of a boy whose family migrates frequently in pursuit of employment picking seasonal crops. As result the student changes school just as often (though the parents value this education as an invaluable opportunity to escape their circumstances) and he suffers the wrath of bullies until one day he decides to stand up to them. Students have pair-shares throughout the text. (12 minutes) Guided Practice: The teacher asks students to turn to their elbow partner to discuss why they think Chico and his family migrated. These responses are shared whole group and documented on a new story based What?/Why?/How? graphic organizer. The teacher includes all true suggestions but

might guide for reasons around economic and educational opportunity. Students are invited to return to their seats so that they could learn more about Chicos circumstances and the experiences of many boys and girls like him, who are the children of migrant laborers. The teacher shows them a map (made by National Geographic) on the Promethean board. Teacher asks what students think the various arrows of different colors and thicknesses might represent given the context of their conversation. It indicates the countries that people emigrate to most frequently, in what population scale and from what country. How long do students think people have been migrating, for similar reasons we discussed earlier in class? Teacher moves to a second page of the document that characterizes historical trends of migration and settlement to the United States, accounting for the diverse ethnic identities. The teacher situates migration as a historical and contemporary trend. Teacher asks students what trends and patterns they are noticing. (15 minutes) Independent Practice: Students are assigned a cooperative project. Each partner will be given a brief excerpt from a narrative of an immigrants life story from the past and present. Together students will fill out a graphic organizer listing all of the reasons their selected people were leaving their home country (push) and the possible reasons for choosing the United States of America (pull). (12 minutes) Assessment: Students return their attention whole group. An enlarged graphic organizer is visible on the Promethean Board. Students talk across groups to create a master list of push and pull reasons for migration. (7 minutes) Closure: What do you think about Chico and his family? How prevalent might his story actually be in the United States? Are there remaining questions? Students all write one burning question and post-it on the class Wonder Wall. (5 minutes) Differentiation:

Spanish language can be incorporated into The First Day in Grapes. A different title describing another ethnic groups story could be substituted if that could make the material more relevant. There are several occasions for students to move around the room. (From their desk to the reading zone, back to their desks and to their partners). Graphic organizers will help students with ADHD and executive function impairments categorize information.