European Immigration Thematic Unit

Group Members/Group Name: Katelynn Arroyo

Thematic Unit Theme/Title/Grade Level: Immigration/2nd Grade
Group Wiki space address: _______________________________________________________
Daily Lesson Plan Day/Title: Tuesday/Literature Circle
Lesson Length (ie. 30 minutes): 90 minutes (Reading Block)
Rationale for Instruction
A rationale is an essential part of
thoughtful planning of classroom
instruction. This is a brief written
statement of the purpose for instruction
and the connection of the purpose to
instruction that has come before and will
follow.

Learning Objectives
What will students know and be able to
do at the end of this lesson? Be sure to set
significant (related to NGSS Themes,
CCSS, and NGSSS), challenging,
measurable and appropriate learning
goals!

NCSS Theme/Next
Generation Sunshine State
Standards/Common Core
Standards (LAFS/MAFS)
List each standard that will be addressed
during the lesson. Cutting and pasting
from the website is allowed. You must
have a minimum of 3 standards that
represent multiple content areas identified
in this portion of the lesson plan.
These can be downloaded from the
Florida Dept of Education
www.cpalms.org/homepage/index.aspx.

In order to embrace a culture of diversity in the classroom, elementary students should begin to
understand how various cultures became present in the United States. In order for students to
understand situations in diverse ways and why people in different times and places view the world
differently, students should learn about immigration and the difficult process that many immigrants
endured in coming to America seeking the American Dream. Students will begin to understand how
immigration shaped the nation and how our country became as diverse as it is today.
After listening to a read-aloud of the picture book Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story, and
viewing the pictures, the student will be able to recall various facts about Annie Moore, the first
immigrant to enter America through Ellis Island, and her familys long, difficult journey in a cramped
cabin.
*During a literature circle with four other group members in which students take on the roles of
discussion director, connection maker, summarizer, word wizard, and passage picker, the student
will gain a deeper understanding of the text, identify reasons why people came to the United States
and understand the reasons why people understand and view situations in different ways.
NCSS Theme: Time, Continuity, & Change Social studies programs should include experiences that
provide for the study of the ways human beings view themselves in and over time, so that the learner
can:
1. demonstrate an understanding that different people may describe the same event or situation in
diverse ways, citing reasons for the differences in views;
2. compare and contrast different stories or accounts about past events, people, places, or situations,
identifying how they contribute to our understanding of the past;
3. demonstrate an understanding that people in different times and places view the world
differently.
SS.2.A.2.5 Identify reasons people came to the United States throughout history.
LAFS.2.RL.1.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
LAFS.2.RL.2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning
introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
LAFS.2.RL.2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a
Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115

Student Activities &

Procedures
Design for Instruction

What best practice strategies will be

implemented?
How will you communicate student
expectation?
What products will be developed and
created by students?
Consider Contextual Factors (learning
differences/learning environment) that
may be in place in your classroom.

European Immigration Thematic Unit

different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
LAFS.RL.3.7 Use information obtained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to
demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
LAFS.2.RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, when, where, why and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text.
LAFS.2.RI.2.4 Determine meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject
area.
LAFS.2.SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and
texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions.
b. Build on others talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.
c. Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under
discussion.
Introduction/Engagement: Gather students together in a circle on the front carpet for a class
discussion. Explain to students that today you will be reading, Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island
Story, a story about Annie Moore, the first Ellis Island Immigrant. Ask students how they think Annie
felt to be the first Ellis Island immigrant? Ask students if there was a time they were first in their
families to do something and how did it feel? Explain to students that after you read this book to the
class, they will form groups of five and work together in a literature circle, which is like a book club,
where groups will engage in discussion about the read-aloud and each member will have a specific role
within the group.
Instructional Input and Procedures:
1. Read-aloud the book, Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story to the class. Stop after each
page to show the illustrations to the entire class.
2. Have students form four groups of five members and move their desks together so that they are
all sitting around each other in a group, almost like a circle.
3. Give each group a copy of Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story.
4. Explain to students that you will be passing out role sheets for the following roles: discussion
director, connection maker, summarizer, word wizard, and passage picker.
5. Explain to the class that the discussion director is the person in the group who will write down
questions group members have about the book and keeps group members on task to make sure
they are not getting off topic when a question is asked. The teacher will also walk around the
room and listen in on discussions to guide discussions with other questions if it seems that the
group needs a little more direction.
6. Explain to the class that the connection maker is the group member who will write down their
personal and their groups connections they have made to the story. Students can make
Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115

Resources/Materials

European Immigration Thematic Unit

connections from the story to other books, to themselves, or to the world.
7. Explain to the students that the summarizer is the person in the group who will write a
beginning-middle-end summary of the book and will go over the summary with their group
members to make sure that they all agree upon the summary and that nothing important is
missing from it.
8. Explain to the class that the word wizard is the group member who will search for unfamiliar
words or phrases in the book and the group will work together to provide definitions for those
words or phrases using context clues.
9. Explain to the students that the passage picker is the person in the group who selects and rereads
certain passages in the book or selects specific illustrations in the story for the group to discuss
their importance.
10. Tell students that they can either decide on roles amongst themselves in the group or they can
write the roles down on paper and each group member can pick a role out of a basket.
11. Once the role sheets are passed out where each group member can record their groups thoughts
about the book, explain to the students that they will have about an hour to discuss the book with
their group, answer any questions group members may have, summarize the book, define any
unknown words, and record their thoughts, ideas, questions, and definitions on their role sheets.
12. While students are participating in their literature circles, the teacher will walk around the room
and join each individual literature circle to listen to the discussion group members are having
and also help guide the discussion with additional questions, thoughts and ideas relating to their
active discussion. The teacher will use this time as a way to informally assess students
understanding of the concepts that were presented in the read aloud.
13. The teacher will let the class know when there is ten more minutes left of the literature circles
and will tell the students to start recording their final thoughts on their role sheets. After the
literature circle time is up, the teacher will ask one student from each group to staple all of their
role sheets together to turn in.
14. The teacher will then congratulate students on completing their first literature circle and explain
to the class that they will be participating in literature circles throughout the rest of the year.
15. Explain to the students that for homework they will be completing a literature circle selfassessment and will be assessing themselves on how well prepared they were for the literature
circle, their personal performance in their role, their performance working with the group, and
the groups performance working together as a team. There will also be a few questions for
students to answer as well and turn in tomorrow.
Bunting, E. (2001). Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story. NJ: Troll Communications L.L.C.
*Teacher needs a copy of the book for the read-aloud, plus four additional copies for the literature
circles.
Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115

Assessment

How will student learning be assessed?

Authentic/Alternative assessments?
Does your assessment align with your
objectives, standards and procedures?
Informal assessment (multiple modes):
participation rubrics, journal entries,
collaborative planning/presentation
notes

Exceptionalities
What accommodations or modifications
do you make for ESOL, Gifted/Talented
students, Learning/Reading disabilities,
etc.
These accommodations and/or
modifications should be listed within the
procedures section of the lesson plan as
well as in this section of the document.

Additional Comments and

Notes

European Immigration Thematic Unit

Unit Pre-Assessment: Students will complete the K (What I Know) and W (What I Wonder) from a
KWL chart about the topics of immigration, Ellis Island, and why people leave their home country and
immigrate to the United States.
Unit Post-Assessment: Students will demonstrate learning by completing the L (What I Learned) from
their KWL charts they did prior to the start of this unit.
Daily Lesson Plan Assessment: Students will complete a Literature Circle Self-Assessment at the end of
the lesson and will assess how prepared they were, their personal role in the group, how they worked
within their group and how they performed as a group. Students will reflect on their strengths and
weaknesses as a group, ways to improve their literature circle and what they learned about immigration
through the read-aloud and literature circle experiences.
ESOL: Students with Learning Differences: SLIDE (Show, Look, Investigate, Demonstrate,
Experience) and TREAD (Tell, Read, Explain, Ask/Answer, Discuss)
http://education.ucf.edu/stll/edg4410New.cfm (appropriate for students based on need), graphic
organizers, cooperative learning, flexible grouping, printed materials for group tasks.
Gifted/Talented: Multi-level and multi-dimensional aspects of the lesson, interactive nature of the
lesson, opportunity to explore many points of view and opportunity to analyze and evaluate material,
opportunity for independent projects (student suggested/identified), flexible grouping.
Homework: Students will complete the Literature Circle Self-Assessment and return to class tomorrow.
As an extension to this lesson plan, students could read another tradebook about a different immigrant
or family who immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island and compare and contrast that
immigrants/familys experiences to those of Annie Moores and her brothers.

Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115

European Immigration Thematic Unit

Literature Circle Self-Assessment

Check the appropriate box for each category.
Yes
How Prepared
Was I?

How Well Did

I Perform My
Role?
How Well Did
I Work With
My Group?

How Well Did

Our Group
Work
Together?

No

Somewhat

I paid attention and listened to the entire readaloud.

I understood my role and what was expected
of me.
I presented ideas clearly and used the book to
support answers.
I presented all of the information for my role.
I stayed on topic during discussions.
I gave others the opportunity to participate
and did not talk over others.
I provided evidence from the book when I
participated.
I stayed on topic during discussions.
I listened carefully to others and often added
to their responses.
We made sure everyone participated.
We made sure only one person spoke at a
time.
We gave evidence from the book.
We stayed focused during discussions.
We promoted a friendly atmosphere.

What was the best thing about how the group worked together? __________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Did the group have any problems? If so, how did you solve them? ________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115

European Immigration Thematic Unit

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
How could you improve your Literature Circle next time? _______________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
What did you learn about immigration from the read aloud? ______________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
What did you learn about Annie Moore from the read aloud?_____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Katelynn Arroyo SSE 6115