Bundles of Memories

Objectives

• Children will plan and organize items to be contained in their own bundles.
• Children will apply knowledge of immigrants' plight to their own lives.
• Children will gain awareness of immigrants' situations.
• Children will express their thoughts orally and in written form.

Materials

• grocery sacks (1 per child)
• paper, pencil
• items children collect from home or around room
• journals
• picture of immigrants

Procedures

1. Anticipatory Set: When many immigrants come to the United States, they are not able to bring all of their personal belongings. They must select items that are particularly important to them. One immigrant I have talked to came with one bag and eight dollars in his pocket. Can you imagine?
2. Show pictures of immigrants that show their baggage. What do you think they have with them?
3. Discuss: How they might decide what to bring and what to leave behind?
4. Discuss: What would it feel like to leave behind items that belonged to you?
5. If you were moving to a different country how would you decide what to bring?
6. Assignment: We are going to pretend that we are immigrating into another country. You must decide what you would take with you and why. Each of you must plan out what you would bring with you. Your bundles can only have 6 items and they must all fit inside this grocery sack. The items you must bring include: (this will be written on the board for students to refer to while working)
   • something to remind you of your homeland
   • something to remind you of your family
   • something to entertain you on the voyage
   • something you think will be useful to you in America
   • something to eat (nonperishable)
   • one item of your choice
   You may need to find these items at home. Today, you must make a list of the items you plan to include. Show me your completed list and then I will give you your bag. You can decorate it as you desire and tonight you can collect the items you need.
7. Tomorrow, we will share your bundles. Be prepare to share and tell why you included these items.

PART 2:

1. Have children share their bundles with each other. They must explain why they chose these items.
2. After the children share their bundles- do immigrants only bring tangible items such as these? What else do they bring?-culture.
3. Express in your journal entry: How did you decide what to bring? Was it a difficult decision? How do you think would feel to be an immigrant who had to decide what to bring?

Evaluation

Obj. #1: I will use the children list to determine how well they use planning skills. Also, as they share their final bundles I will check to make sure they have followed directions correctly.

Obj. #2: I will use the contents of their bundles to determine whether they understand what an immigrant might take with him/her. I will also listen to our discussion to make sure the children make connections between the life of an immigrant and their own life.

Obj. #3: Determining the development of awareness is difficult but will be monitored through our discussion and their journal entry.

• Do the children understand the difficulty of the decisions that the immigrants had to make?
• Do the children express the hardship that immigrants faced?

Obj. #4: I will check the children's oral and written expression.

• Are the ideas clear?
• Do the children express their thoughts in an understandable manner?

*Adapted from "Immigration" Creative Teaching Press, Inc. By: Glenda J. Sims