Grade 4 and Who We Are

Grade 4 has been learning about migration as part of their Who We Are Unit of Inquiry. The central idea to the unit is, “Throughout time, people have migrated causing change to themselves and indigenous populations.”

Here is an excerpt from the Grade 4 weekly newsletter from Kerry Fitzharris to parents:

“We began the week by mapping out where our ancestors had originated. We talked about the two major reasons people immigrate: for push factors (leaving a place because of a problem, such as food shortage, war, flood, etc.) and for pull factors (moving to a place because of something good, such as a nicer climate, better food supply, etc.).

On Tuesday, we also developed questions for the people visiting from Create Common Good (CCG), who have immigrated to Boise. We had 10 visitors: 1 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1 from Eritrea, and 8 from Bhutan. Weʼve developed a relationship with several of the workers from CCG over the past three years and it has been wonderful to hear about what theyʼve been up to and how their lives have progressed. The students asked great questions, by the way. I know that the immigrants (all of whom lived in refugee camps for years) appreciated their sincerity and respect. Now itʼs our turn to give back.” During the next week, the students volunteered at the CCG Garden to help establish their gardens for this coming summer.

After their interviews, the students were asked to share their thoughts. Here are a few:

“I felt as though I was in another culture, with all of the different languages and lifestyles they talked about.” Alden

“I felt very intrigued by these refugees’ stories, and I felt like it must be hard to leave their home countries, but at least they found a new home in the U.S. The refugees came from all over and I could see signs of their culture on their clothing. I hope I can meet more people like this.” Ryan S.

“I learned so much about migration and about the people who came. It was a great time and experience.” Maeve

“I felt so lucky and thankful that I got to meet all these people from different places. I also felt surprised and sad that so many people had moved from their home country because of problems.” Edie

Thank you to our guests for sharing their stories and to Tyler Smith from CCG for coordinating the visit! To learn more, visit the Create Common Good website.