Pack Your Trunk:

Topics: Immigration; Pioneer Life; Social History
Suggested Grade Level: 3-6
Required Time: 45-90 minutes

Description:

Students learn about the experience of being an immigrant in the 19th century, from deciding to leave the home country to establishing a new home in Monroe County.  Students will experience the immigrants' challenges of packing for the journey, traveling great distances, and establishing a new home on the Wisconsin frontier.  Parallels to recent Monroe County immigration stories are also discussed.

Goals:

• Personalize the immigrant experience for each student
• Broaden understanding of who settled Monroe County, WI
• Experience choices facing an immigrant that require problem-solving skills on the part of the student
• Investigate materials that tell about the past creating a concrete expression for the abstract concept of "the immigration experience"

Wisconsin Standards for Social Studies related to the program:

• SS.Inq4:  Wisconsin students will communicate and critique conclusions.
• SS.BH1:  Wisconsin Students will examine individual cognition, perception, behavior, and identity.
• SS.BH2:  Wisconsin students will investigate and interpret interactions between individuals and groups.
• SS.BH3:  Wisconsin students will assess the role that human behavior and cultures play in the development of social endeavors.
• SS.BH4:  Wisconsin students will examine the progression of specific forms of technology and their influence within various societies.
• SS.Econ1:  Wisconsin students use economic reasoning to understand issues.
• SS.Geog1 Wisconsin students will use geographic tools and ways of thinking to analyze the world.
• SS.Geog2:  Wisconsin students will analyze human movement and population patterns.
• SS.Geog3:  Wisconsin students will examine the impacts of global interconnections and relationships.
• SS.Geog4:  Wisconsin students will evaluate the relationship between identity and place.
• SS.Geog5:  Wisconsin students will evaluate the relationship between humans and the environment.
• SS.Hist1:  Wisconsin students will use historical evidence for determining cause and effect.
• SS.Hist2:  Wisconsin students will analyze, recognize, and evaluate patterns of continuity and change over time and contextualization of historical events.
• SS.Hist3:  Wisconsin students will connect past events, people, and ideas to the present; use different perspectives to draw conclusions; and suggest current implications.
• SS.PS2:  Wisconsin students will examine and interpret rights, privileges, and responsibilities in society.