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Laying the Foundation for the States

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Subject: Social Studies

Lesson Length: 45 mins

Topic: Establishment of the State

Grade Level: 4

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will identify significant figures and understand why their state was founded and established.

Know Before You Start: Students should understand reasons why people migrate and/or emigrate to a new place. 

Hook:

  • Read and discuss the sample comic.

  • Have students discuss and share reasons people move to new places. Ask leading questions to find out how much they know about why people settled in their state. 

  • Based on what they know about their own area or region in the state, have students describe why they believe people settled there.

Activity:

  • Introduce the following vocabulary:
    • migrate
    • immigrate
    • emigrate
    • foundation
    • establish

  • Using the sample comic as a guide, have students create a three-panel comic showing:

    • Panel 1: Significant figures or founders in the establishment of the state.

    • Panel 2: Cultural background of the founding group(s) and reasons they settled in the area.

    • Panel 3: Values and beliefs of the founding group(s).

Closure:

  • Create a gallery walk to display the finished comics.
  • Discuss the reasons people settled in new areas.

Differentiation:

  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
  • Provide sentence frames as needed.
  • Print out the sample comic for reference.

Resources:

  • Comic to print or display: Comic.

  • Give students a KWL Chart. 

    • K - what they already know and can lead to the “Hook” discussion.

    • W - questions they need answered to help guide them through the research.

    • L - take notes on the new information while researching to help them create their comic

Suggested Content Packs:

Related Ideas

Push / Pull Factors

Students will develop an understanding of the reasons why people leave their home and begin a new life in a new place.

Name That Region

Students will learn how the colonial regions; northern, middle, and southern differed economically by exploring the advantages of their locations and what they exported.