THE IMMIGRANTS 5th Grade This program is designed to give each student a chance to explore his or her own background. This activity will reinforce the idea that history is not a set of abstract generalizations about the past, but is something with which we all have a concrete and personal link. "The Immigrants" provides students with an opportunity to interview their own family and relatives in order to provide them with a first hand means on how to explore the past. Students will have a chance to share their personal backgrounds with each other and in doing so, we hope students will learn to appreciate the uniqueness of each individual history and recognize the common experiences all people share. OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to: Explain the difference between 'primary' and 'secondary' sources Relate some of their own personal family stories and share personal heirlooms Create their own family trees Learn that most people in the U.S. came from other countries for many different reasons Gain an understanding of what it was like to be an immigrant from various cultural backgrounds and at various times in history Share their research with their classmates and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and each other A trained docent will come to the classroom to guide them through this journey which will require an hour a week over three week's time. On the first visit, after a short introduction, the students will watch a video about the Native American Indians and how they lived before, during and after foreign immigrants began to arrive. There will be a short question and answer period, students will be given a vocabulary list, heirlooms and heritage will be discussed and they will receive a family tree to fill out. On the second visit, each student will be given the opportunity to discuss something of interest they have learned about themselves and their ancestors, and the class will be divided into four groups. Each group will receive the history of an imaginary immigrant family or individual, based on historical fact, in the form of primary or secondary sources. Students then will become the 'historian' and begin assembling the written material in chronological order. After reading the entries they will answer questions on a worksheet. On the third visit, the worksheets will be discussed and the students will point out on a map where their immigrant family originated. The students will then be asked to identify heirlooms pertinent to their family from a large box and explain why they were significant. The Immigrant Families profiled are: Native American (with film) German-Jewish African Chinese Mexican Swedish We welcome your questions and comments and look forward to working with you! BACK TO PROGRAMS