Immigration
Immigration

Unit Essential Question: “How has immigration changed the United States?”

Grade Level:  4/5                                           Subject Area:  Social Studies

Time Needed:  50 minutes                             Topic: Immigration

Lesson Essential Question: “What are the rights and responsibilities of American citizens?”

NCSS Standards:

  • Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
  • Civic Ideals and Practices
 

MMSD Standards:

  • Identify the characteristics of responsible citizenship.
 

UW Teaching Standards:

  • Standard #1: Incorporates Understanding of Human Learning and Development
  • Standard #9: Manages Learning Environment
 

Materials Needed:

  • Large Venn diagram
  • Venn diagram worksheets for students
  • Rights and responsibilities written on separate sentence strips
  • Exit slips for students
  • Chart paper
  • Marker
 

Objectives:

·         Students will learn that a citizen is a member of a particular country or state that has the right to live there.

·         Students will be able to name some of the rights that citizens of the United States enjoy.

·         Students will be able to name some of the responsibilities of citizens of the United States.

 

Lesson Context:

Students have been discussing some of the various contributions immigrants have made to the United States, and they will now be transitioning to talk about some of the ‘required’ contributions that citizens make to America. 

Lesson Opening:

[Have definitions of immigrant, citizen, naturalization, rights, and responsibilities on chart paper before the lesson begins.]  So far, in our study of immigration, we’ve only talked about immigrants as immigrants.  What is an immigrant?  However, these immigrants are not just immigrants, but they are also citizens of some country, either the country they just moved from or a different country, and they might be interested in becoming a citizen of the United States.  What does the word ‘citizen’ mean? 

  • Students will likely give their own definitions
  • “Those are all great definitions.  The definition we’re going to use today is…” Have students choral read it together.
Procedure:

·         How does a person become a ‘member’ of the United States?

o   Allow students to answer (by birth or by naturalization)

·         Who gets to be a U.S. citizen by birth?

o   Allow students to answer (those who were born here or those who have parents who are U.S. citizens)

·         We mentioned a long word before – naturalization.  Can someone explain what that word means?  What word do you see in ‘naturalization’ that you know?   [Point out definition of naturalization on chart paper; have students repeat.]  Does anyone know what types of things have to be done before a person is naturalized?

o   Write down student responses on board

o   If students are at a loss for what is required, ask questions like:

§  Where should you live if you want to become a U.S. citizen?

§  Can you live there for a little bit of time?

§  Before, we discussed what types of people the U.S. let in.  What do you remember from that discussion?

·         So, some people who are not born U.S. citizens might choose to become citizens, and the process they go through to do that is called naturalization.  When a person becomes a citizen of the United States, they receive some rights and some responsibilities that are only for citizens. There are many rights that people have when they come to this country as immigrants, but there are some rights that are just for people who are citizens.  Can someone share an example of a right that you have?  A responsibility that you have?  (clarify definition of each after example is given)

·         The United States has decided what the rights and responsibilities of citizens will be.  I have a bunch of these rights and responsibilities written on separate pieces of paper, and we are going to decide as a class whether we consider them rights, responsibilities, or both.  We are going to complete this activity on the large Venn diagram here, and as we do this, you will be completing your own Venn diagram.  For your exit slip, you are going to choose three of these rights or responsibilities and explain why we put them in the category we did, so take notes on your Venn diagram if you need to.

o   Teacher reads off right or responsibility and asks if a student can explain what it means.  If not, teacher will clarify.  Then, teacher will ask students if this is a right or responsibility, and why.  Phrases will be placed appropriately in Venn diagram.

o   After 2-3 examples, teacher will pass out the rest of the rights and responsibilities strips to partners.  Partners will decide if it is a right, responsibility, or both, and why.  Students will then present to the class and stick on large Venn diagram.

o   Ask students if they can think of other rights or responsibilities of citizens.

·         Questions to consider, if extra time:

o   Is anyone checking to make sure citizens are fulfilling their responsibilities?  Which ones, and why do you think these are checked?

o   Are all of these responsibilities equally important?  Which ones might be more important than others?

o   Which right is the most important to you?  Which responsibility do you think is the most important?

Lesson Closure:

When people come to the United States, some people work very hard to gain citizenship because the rights and responsibilities that citizens receive are so important to them.  On your exit slip, write three of the rights and responsibilities we discussed today, and write down why they are either a right or a responsibility.

Assessment:

·         Student participation in whole-class discussion

·         Exit slip

Special Considerations:

·         Students will receive their own Venn diagrams to fill in to keep them focused on lesson content.

·         If students are too talkative to work as a whole group, have students break into small groups of about four and fill in Venn diagram within the group.  Groups will then share out one right and one responsibility they discussed.  These will be recorded on large class diagram.  Rights and responsibilities not mentioned will be reviewed afterwards.