Participant Name(s): Susan Moretz

The Last Great Canal Curriculum Project
Unit/Lesson Title: Immigrant Children at Work
Intended Grade Level: 4^th and 5^th (ELL)	Approximate length: 7 classes, 40 minutes long
Applicable Standards: North Carolina Social Studies Goal 3: The learner will examine the roles various ethnic groups have played in the development of the U.S. and neighboring countries. Competency: 3.01 Locate and describe people of diverse ethnic, and religious cultures, past and present in the U.S.  Goal 4: The learner will trace key developments in the U.S. history and describe their impact on the land and people of the nation and its neighboring countries. Competency 4.02: Explain when, where, why, and how groups of people settled in different regions of the U.S.
Goals/Objectives 1. Compare and contrast the lives of two young immigrants from the past with very different situations to a young immigrant in the present. 2. Identify the differences and similarities of the three young immigrant workers. 3. Recognize that young immigrant workers have always worked to survive, and as a result helped to make the U.S. a better place.
Procedures Lesson I. 1.Read “Coming to America”, by Betsey Maestro, to class using questioning techniques that requires higher-level thinking from students.  2.Ask students to share either their recent “Coming to America” stories or their understanding of where and when their families came to America. 3. Give students a simple world map with only continent and country names on it. Assign the students into groups; ask them to indicate their country of origin by writing their name on their country. Explain that not everyone knows this information, and that is OK. Lesson II. 1. Show picture or drawing of canal boat. Ask students to “tell about” the picture. This allows students at all levels of English proficiency to participate. 2. Read Chapter 4 One of the Crew from Always Know Your Pal by The Erie Canal Association which deals with Children at work on a canal boat. 3.Show picture or drawing of African slaves working in a field, and ask students to “tell about” it. Read pages 35-40 from” When There Was Slavery In America”, by Anne Kamma. This deals with the work slave children did. 4. Discuss the two readings. 5. Ask students to share the kinds of work their family members are involved in. List their responses on chart paper. Lesson III. 1.Ask students to locate Ireland and Nigeria on their world maps and write the name JAMES in Ireland and GEORGE in Nigeria. They may use the class world map as a resource. If necessary give them clues, such as “ Nigeria is in Africa. Africa is orange on our big map.” 2.Teacher reads pages 59 and 60 from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano written by Himself. This describes one of this slave’s first memories of America and his first job fanning away flies from his master, and a similar narrative by Tom Carrick an Irish immigrant whose first job was being a mule driver on a canal. 3.Students are paired and one of them reads the mini-biography of the composite characters of George, a slave from Nigeria in 1758 and the other student reads the story of James, an Irish immigrant mule driver in 1852. They report to each other about what they read. 4.Discuss with the class the different kinds of work that children did. 5. Assign the students the task of interviewing a teenage friend or family member who has a job. Give them a list of possible questions to ask, with the main emphasis on their work in comparing the present and future.  Lesson IV 1.Using the information obtained from the interview, and the examples of the mini-biographies of George and James, student will write their own mini-biography. Explain that the name can be changed if they wish. If student could not interview someone they can work with another student being sure to acknowledge the interviewers accomplishment. Students peer edit their books, then the teachers does the final edit. Lesson V. Students volunteer to read their mini-biographies to the class. 2 Students write the names of the present day “Children at Work” on their world maps in their country of origin. Lesson VII. 1. Show students the timeline on page 7 of the If You Lived When There Was Slavery In America book.. 2. Provide students with a time line with the dates for important historical events such as the Civil War already filled. Students complete the timeline with important dates of the two composite characters George and James and their present day interviewees.
Materials  Handouts: Blank Timeline, Simple Map, Pictures and or Drawings of young slave workers and young canal workers   Equipment: Overhead Projector
Resources (traditional & electronic)  Books: If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America, From Slave Ship to Freedom Road, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, The Republic of Ireland, Coming to America, Why Did Your Family Come?, and Making Thirteen Colonies
Assessment(s) 1. Completed World Map indicating the country of origin of the workers discussed in the unit.  2 Completed timeline indicating when the same workers were living.  3. A journal response to the questions, Why is work important? And What kind of work do you hope to do in the future?