Reading Level:
X

Word Count:
1,795

Pages:
24 

Text Summary
The Story of Immigration recounts the history of immigration to the United States, both voluntary and involuntary, from the earliest wave in the early 1600s up to the present. The book explains many reasons for immigration, including the need for political asylum and the search for a better life.

Vocabulary
destination
ethnic
immigrant
immigration
imposed
indentured
influx
native
persecution
quota

Reproducibles
Worksheets
Worksheet 1 - Main idea/details chart
Worksheet 1 - Verb tense

Lesson Objectives

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as students work to understand the text. The section "Kinds of Immigration" offers an opportunity for students to compare and contrast information, while the section "Waves of Immigration" provides an opportunity to sequence events.

The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: Identify main idea and supporting details. 

Word Work

Verb tense
Identify verbs and explain reasons for change of tense within the text.

Changing Word Meanings: Prefixes and Suffixes
Identify base words.
Understand how meaning changes when prefixes and suffixes are added to a base word.

Visual Literacy
Interpret information on a map.
Interpret information on a time line.

Before Reading

Introducing the Book
Show students the cover of the book. Ask: What do you see on the cover? What do you think the book will be about? Is this book going to be fiction or nonfiction? How do you know? What book features do you expect to find in a nonfiction book? Show students the back cover. Ask: What other information does this give you about the book?

Elicit Prior Knowledge
Ask students what they know about immigration. Record their responses on a Word Web. Have a discussion with the class about immigration. Ask if anyone in the class is from another country, or if they have a family member or friend from another country. Discuss what it would be like to have to leave your country. Ask: What would you miss? What would be the hardest thing to get used to? Where do you think you would go if you could not live in your own country? How would you get to the new country? How quickly do you think you could learn a new language?

Explain that learning a new language takes a long time, and that getting used to a new culture can be very challenging.

Skim and Scan
Hand out the book to students and have them turn to the table of contents. Read through the chapter headings with them. Ask: Do you have a better idea of what the book is going to be about now that you have read the table of contents? On what page will you find information about immigration laws?

Have students skim through the book, looking at photographs and the chapter headings. Point out an example of a bold-faced word. Ask: Why is this word in bold print? How could you find out the meaning of this word? Have students turn to the glossary at the back of the book and read the definition of the word together. Tell students to use the glossary as they read if they need help figuring out the meaning of a bold-faced word.

During Reading

Set the Purpose
Hand out Worksheet 1 and tell students that they will be looking for the main idea and most important details of the book chapters. Model how to determine the main idea by reading the introduction and first chapter with students. Explain that the main idea is the most important thing the writer wants the reader to know. Tell them the headings of sections or chapters often give clues to the main idea.

Say: This heading is "Kinds of Immigration." This lets me know what the writer wants me to learn in this chapter. I think the main idea is that there are two types of immigration: voluntary and involuntary. The writer provides details about the main idea, for example, that voluntary immigrants seek a better way of life. When you read each chapter, I want you to identify the most important information in the chapter. Write this in the main idea box. Then think about what the important details are and record these in the detail box. Once you have done this, go on to the next chapter.

After Reading

Building Comprehension
Have students share the information on their main idea charts. If there are differences of opinion as to the main idea of a chapter, have students work together to revisit the text to find evidence for the main idea.

Ask: What is the main idea of chapter 3? How do you know this is the main idea? What details have you listed?

Discuss any other aspects of the book that students found interesting. Ask: How do you think it might feel to be forced to leave your country because of religious or political oppression? What contributions have immigrants made to the culture of the United States? What contributions have they made to our community?

Word Work

Verb Tenses
Review with students what a verb is and it's purpose in a sentence. Have students look at the verbs in the second paragraph in "Waves of Immigration." Ask: Are these verbs written in past tense or present tense? Why does the writer need to use past tense here? Why do we call came and were irregular verbs? 

Have students look at the verbs in the fourth paragraph of "Immigration Laws." Ask: What tense are these verbs? Why has the writer used present tense here? 

Hand out Worksheet 2. Have students work in groups of 2 or 3 to take a chapter or section of the book and find and record the verbs in the appropriate columns on the worksheet. Have students share their findings when they are finished.

Changing Word Meanings: Prefixes and Suffixes
Write the word migrate on the board and have students find two words in the text that have been formed from this word (immigrants, immigration). Have students tell you what prefix and what suffixes have been added to create the new words (im, -ant; im, -tion). Explain that the suffixes -ant and -tion change the verb migrate to a noun and change the meaning of the word. Adding -ant, for example, makes a word that means "one who migrates." Write the words assist and confide on the board and have students add -ant to create new words. Then have students add -tion to the words act, celebrate, direct, and invent to create new words. Discuss how the meanings have changed in all of the words.

Learning through Visual Devices

Interpret a Map
Have students look at the map on page 16.

Ask: Why did the writer include this map in the text? What information does it provide? Which country did the greatest number of immigrants to the U.S. come from?

Interpret a Time Line
Have students look at the time line on page 17.

Ask: What does this time line show us? How do we read a time line? What happened in 1917? What happened in 1892? How does having this information help you better understand the text?

Writing Link
Reread the section "How They Arrived" with students and have them focus on the description of the conditions on the boat. Tell students you want them to imagine that they are immigrants traveling by boat to the United States in the year 1870. They are to write about their experiences and feelings in a journal that records events over a period of a week. Some ideas they could focus on are:

• The conditions on the boat and the health of the passengers
• The people they meet on their trip and the ones they had to leave behind in their old country
• Concerns about the journey and the country that will be their new home

Encourage students to use words from the glossary in their writing. 

Assessment

• Review students' completed main idea charts to determine whether they can identify the main idea. Note whether they can support their ideas by referring back to the text. Note whether they include details that are relevant to the main idea.
• Have students use selected words from the glossary in oral or written sentences in order to demonstrate their understanding of the meaning of the word. Note whether they use any of the glossary words in their writing assignment, and whether they are used correctly.
• Review students' work on Worksheet 2 to determine their ability to identify verbs and to organize them into categories of regular and irregular verbs.
• Note whether students can create a new word by adding a suffix. Note whether they understand how the meaning and function of a word changes with the addition of a prefix or suffix.