Unit 9: Land of Opportunity Overview

Welcome to Unit 9: Land of Opportunity. This unit will introduce students to the concept of immigration in the United States, an especially important topic because the United States is often referred to as a country of immigrants. Students will learn about the biggest wave of immigration to the United States, which occurred between 1880 and 1920. They will discover why people immigrated, what factors pushed them from their homelands and pulled them to the United States, and why many immigrants settled in particular cities or regions upon their arrival. These basic facts about immigration will help students further their awareness of U.S. history. Learning about immigration to the United States is also an opportunity for students from immigrant families to find out more about their family history and what brought them and/or their ancestors to the United States.

Students will hear about becoming a citizen and what it means to be a citizen of the United States. They will learn some basic facts about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and about one of these documents’ key creators, James Madison. This will help students begin to understand the many privileges as well as some of the specific rights they will have as citizens when they get older. As students learn about the early years of immigration to the United States and the rights and responsibilities of citizens, they will be introduced to new vocabulary and concepts that will help them understand why the United States is called the “land of opportunity.”

The text that students will be reading and discussing in this unit provides opportunities for students to build content knowledge and draw connections to social studies. Class discussions may be used to support students in making cross-curricular connections to the strands of Citizenship, Geography, Science, Technology, and Society, and Social Studies Skills from the Social Studies TEKS.

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