Catherine Brett and Hestia Mayes

Term III Social Studies Lesson

Grade 1
What is it like to move to a new place?
WHAT?
This lesson will encourage students to reflect upon and analyze the experience of moving to a
new place. Ideally, this lesson would be part of a larger unit on immigration and migration. As
such, a large focus of the lesson will be on the experience of moving to the United States from
another country; however, students will also consider the experience of moving more broadly,
whether this is to a new state, town, or school. Within this lesson, students can volunteer to share
their own personal thoughts on moving, listen to the experiences of their peers and their teacher,
consider the story of Francisco in La Marposa, and then identify one positive and one
challenging aspect of moving to a new place. They should grasp the concept that moving to a
new place comes with both benefits and challenges. Students will also explore history as a
narrative by considering multiple stories of moving to a new place.
HOW?
To activate prior knowledge, students will be invited to share their own, their familys, or their
friends experiences moving to a new place and will also hear their teachers story of moving to
Philadelphia. Although this part of the lesson centers around small group discussion,
participation at this point will be completely voluntary--students who do not wish to share their
own experiences are welcome to simply listen to the experiences of their classmates and their
teacher. Then, we will explore the experience of moving to a new place through another personal
narrative, the childrens book La Marposa. While students listen to the read aloud, they will be
asked to think about the challenges and benefits of moving to a new place. Following the read
aloud, students individually will write or draw about one positive and one challenging aspect of
moving. Their ideas may stem from our initial discussion, from Franciscos story in La
Marposa, or from personal experiences.
WHY?
The students do not study any formal social studies curriculum in class. However, many of the
students have personal or familial experiences immigrating to the country, and those who do not
certainly know people in their school or community who have immigrated and/or have moved
within the country before. Therefore, because the topic of moving is so relevant and applicable to
the students, it offers an easy access point into studying the broader historical and current
processes of immigration and migration. As an introductory lesson to this unit of study, students

will reflect on their own personal stories and the narrative of a fictional character, Francisco in
La Marposa, in order to generate interest and empathy regarding the topic of immigration and
migration. Furthermore, they will analyze the stories they have heard in order to identify one
positive and one challenging aspect of moving to a new place. This activity pushes students to
engage in application, evaluation, and analysis--higher-order cognitive processes on Blooms
taxonomy. This lesson also falls under the NCSS strand People, Places and Environments.

Essential Question: What is it like to move to a new place?

Goals/Objectives: Students will explore the essential question through reflection on personal
experience and the childrens book La Marposa. Students will identify one positive and one
challenging aspect of moving to a new place.
Standards:
NCSS - People, Places, and Environments
Materials and Preparation:

Pictures from being and after moving to Philadelphia

Map of PA/USA and globe
La Marposa
Example positives and challenges of moving picture based on my experience
Positives and challenges of moving worksheets
Pencils
Crayons

Classroom Arrangement and Management Issues:

1. Classroom arrangement - The lesson will take place in the school library. The group will sit
around a square table, and I will sit at the head of the table beside a white board.
2. Material distribution - Materials such as the map, my pictures of where I lived before and
now, and the model worksheet will be shown to the students; I will hold them up first and then
pass them around so each student has a chance to look closely. When we move on to the final
activity, I will hand each student a worksheet. Each student will work on writing/drawing a
picture with their pencil. Once most students have the bulk of the activity completed, I will place
a communal bin of crayons in the middle of the table; there will be plenty for students to easily
share. This will ensure that students do not dwell on the coloring aspect, but rather complete the
important part of the activity before starting to color.
3. Management concerns - Students may have trouble sharing crayons that are placed in the
center of the table, but if this happens, I will just remind them to ask their neighbor to hand them
the crayons and to make sure everyone has the crayons they need, etc. Students also might
become a little restless during the read aloud, and if so, I will try ask to questions to keep them
engaged. Additionally, students might interrupt the read aloud with off-task comments. In this
case, I will remind them to raise their hand if they want to share something, and if their comment

doesnt seem very relevant to our lesson or to the story, Ill briefly acknowledge it but wont
focus too much on the comment.
Plan:
1. Hook (5 minutes)
Show the students pictures of where I used to live and where I live now and show these
locations on a map. Explain a positive and a challenging aspect of my own move (e.g. Im so happy that I came here and met all of you, but I really miss my family sometimes).
Ask the students if anyone has ever moved to a new place, or if their family or friends
have ever moved to a new place. Ask for volunteers to share the experience.
2. Body
Read Aloud (20 minutes)
Introduce La Marposa and provide some background information about the
book. Explain that Francisco moved to California from Mexico so that his father
could earn money working on the farms. Explain that the family lives in tents
with other families of migrant workers, and that they move frequently with the
harvest. Explain that the story begins on Francisco's first day of school in the
United States.
Ask students to consider the following questions will listening to the story: What
is it like to move to a new place? What is one good thing and one hard thing about
moving to a new place?
Read La Marposa aloud. Ask questions throughout to ensure that students
understand the story. Ask questions to get students thinking about positives and
challenges of moving that Francisco experienced.
Follow-up Activity (15 minutes)
Show students an example of positives and challenges of moving worksheet with
drawings based on my move to Philadelphia.
Students will make create their own positives and challenges of moving
worksheet. On one half of a piece of paper they will draw and label a positive
aspect of moving to a new place, and on the other half they will draw and label a
challenging aspect. Their ideas can be based on their own experiences, the
experiences of friends or family, the stories shared in our introductory discussion,
or on the read aloud.
3. Closure (5 minutes)
Student sharing
Students will briefly share their pictures and explain what they identified as
positive and challenging aspects of moving to a new place.

 Final comments
I will summarize some of the main ideas that we have touched on: that moving
can be scary, confusing, overwhelming, but also can be exciting, necessary, fun.
These comments will partly depend on what students identified during the read
aloud and the activity. For example, if lots of students focused on the idea of
learning a new language as one challenging aspect, I will be sure to touch on that
in my discussion.
I will also make the point here that moving isnt necessarily half good, half bad,
but rather that it is complex and we can often find at least one positive and one
negative aspect.
Assessment of goals/objectives:
One indication of student learning will be comments/responses during the read aloud and
discussion. If students are able to identify some positive or negative aspects of Franciscos
experience, and the experience of moving in general, and articulate why these aspects might be
good or bad, that indicates that they are thinking empathetically and critically about what it is
like to move. On the worksheet, I will be looking for students to identify and explain a sensible
positive aspect of moving and a sensible challenging aspect of moving. (Note: determining a
sensible answer will be partly based on the students explanation. For example, one student
could identify language as a challenging aspect because it is hard to not understand anyone, but
another student could identify language as a positive aspect because it is fun and valuable to
learn a new language. I would consider both of these answers to be valid because they have
logical explanations).
Anticipating Student Responses and My Possible Responses:
1. Management issues
Off task comments during read aloud I will try to redirect comments to focus on the
content of the lesson. I will politely acknowledge comments but wont focus on them too
much.
Off task behavior during activity I will try to redirect students attention back to the
task by asking them questions about their drawing/engaging them in conversation. I will
also provide time warnings so students can manage their time.
2. Content of the lesson
Comments indicating confusion/incomplete understanding Ask scaffolding questions
(e.g. - If students cant name a positive aspect of moving, ask What made Francisco feel
happy at his new school?). Model by identifying my own positive and challenging
experiences of moving to Philadelphia.

 Personal and potentially touchy comments about students experiences I will try to
legitimize students experiences and empathize with them (e.g. - [Name], it must have
been really hard for you when ________). I will try to model the kind of response I want
the other students to give when students share difficult personal information.
Accommodations:
1. Accommodations for students who find the material too challenging
If students seem to be struggling with identifying positive and negative experiences, I
will help by modeling. I can model my own experiences again, carefully explaining why
some parts of moving to Philly were good and some parts were hard. I can also model
how to think empathetically and ask students scaffolding questions, such as Imagine you
just moved here today. Whats something that would be hard? Would you feel scared?
Why?
2. Accommodations for students who need greater challenge and/or finish early
If students finish early during the activity, I will ask them to write more about their
picture or add more detail to the picture.