Today's Pilgrims

Grade Levels: 3 - 5

Objectives

• Students will use vocabulary related to immigrants and immigration.
• Students will read and compare the personal stories of some recent American immigrants.
• Students will summarize some of the challenges that immigrants face.

Materials

• Today's Pilgrim worksheet
• The New Americans website (http://www.pbs.org/newamericans/)

Procedures

1. Introduce key vocabulary: diverse, ethnic groups, immigrant, minority, population.
2. Have pairs of students complete the Today's Pilgrim worksheet as they explore the New Americans website.
3. Invite students to make lists or charts showing the most common issues the immigrants discuss in their personal stories.
4. Set up a time when students can gather in groups to talk about what they have learned and how it applies to their own school and community.

Assessment

• Ask students to use what they have learned to write a summary about today's pilgrims. Check that they are able to identify who the pilgrims are and what challenges they face.
• Find a variety of assessment techniques to use with this lesson.

Extension Activities

• Choose from a large collection of cross-curricular activities for all grade levels.
• Explore outstanding lessons and activities in the Pilgrims theme.
• Have students visit Immigrants in the News
  (http://www.immigrationforum.org/) to learn the names of some famous American immigrants.
• Encourage pairs to research one of the names and tell the class about this immigrant's contributions to America.
• Invite students to learn more about the Statue of Liberty. They can pretend to be immigrants sailing into New York Harbor, looking at the statue for the first time. Tell them to write scripts of the conversations they might have.