Greetings Everyone!
I thought I would take a few moments of your time to tell you about our next social studies unit. The unit is the second half of our Geography unit entitled “Human” geography. This unit takes a closer look at how people have affected our environment. We look closely at migration and immigration. This year I would like to extend our learning by asking students to look at people in their own family in the past who took risks. Students will explore their state and family history by answering the driving question,
“What makes people take a risk?”
Using examples of risk taking from personal and state history, taken from a variety of literary contexts, students will create their own Choose Your Own Adventure interactive stories. They will combine family histories with those of two other students and develop outcomes based on historical probability. Student teams present their adventures in an interactive presentation with an audience of parents and other students.
This project is designed to teach state history to 4th graders in a manner authentic to their own lives and experiences. The aim of this project is for students to learn more about the motives that brought settlers to our state or country, and to explore decisions that were made and risks that were taken in the process. In teaching this project, there is an intentional connection to the students themselves and the risks that have been taken for them and also the risks they have taken and would like to take in the future
We will begin working on this project next week. We will begin by reading various stories of immigration and identifying risks associated with each move. We will discuss risks students have taken. Students will do background research about immigration in their family and identify the risks taken in that process. This will involve each student writing a family history based on an interview. This will lead us to the Adventure books and an invitation for you to join us to share what we have learned.
Please let me know if there is anyone in your family who would like to come to our classroom and share a part of their experience with our class. We would also like to see any artifacts: photographs, books, or important personal items that traveled with your family.
Again, many thanks for your support and cooperation.
More information on the project will follow.
Sincerely,
A. Cronin
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