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Holly N. Hart

TITLE: Where did we come from?

GRADE LEVEL: 4th or 5th

LENGTH:

-Interview-give one week outside of class to complete.

PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS: The students will be able to obtain information about immigration through interviewing the student's own family and at least one other family.

MATERIALS:

- list of questions to ask family

PROCEDURES:

Introduction: The students will be presented with the concept of immigration by with a brief discussion of the history of our families. Begin discussion with the statement that although we are all Americans* now we (our families) did not originate in the United States, but sometime ago our ancestors moved here from far away. Ask them to brainstorm some questions that they might want to know the answer to about their family's traditions and customs, the family's origination and the family's history. Write down the questions on the chalkboard or overhead.

*If there are students from other countries in the classroom make sure that you gear your discussion to include them. Many people do immigrate into other countries besides the United States.

Development: The students will be given the task to interview their own families and find out where they came from. They will also have to interview one other family with the same questions. Here is a list of questions that should be included in the list:

1. What is the family name?

2. From what other countries did they or their ancestors come?

3. Why did they come to America?

4. What special customs and traditions do they still observe?

The students will use the attached sheet to answer the questions and create questions of their own to ask the interviewee.

Closure: After the students have completed their interviews they will share with their class what they found. The students will get in groups of 2 to 3 and share what they learned with each other. The teacher will visit each group to help initiate discussion.

ASSESSMENT: The assessment of the student's performance will be based on the completion of the attached sheet and their input in the discussion of their findings.

ADAPTATION: If time is a factor the students will only interview their families. If the student is not receiving useful information from their families have a few community volunteers or other parents available to answer the questions.

REFERENCE: none