Immigration Intro!
We've begun a new social studies unit on immigration! We started our learning with a field trip last week to the textile mills in Lowell, where the kids were given a window into the immigrant experience for individuals who came to America in search of work. The children were split into two groups, and half of the class went through all of the activities with Mrs. Solomon and Mrs. Blair.
First, the the children were given passports with information about actual immigrants who worked at the mills, from a variety of different countries and backgrounds.
After passing through an "immigration checkpoint" and learning a bit about the journey from different parts of the world to the mills, students had the opportunity to look through artifacts representing important elements of home for people from countries as varied as Greece, Cambodia, and Ireland.
Back at school a few days later, the class discussed the different reasons why people chose to leave their home countries in search of a new life in America.
The students had to decide which factors may have led specific immigrants to come to the U.S., ranging from safety to political freedom. After hearing different testimonials from immigrants read aloud, the children chose individually which reason best fit the situation, and explained their reasoning.
We are looking forward to seeing the class's understanding grow throughout this unit and hope to pass along more information about our work soon!
