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2nd grade · Social Studies · Unit 14 of 15

People on the Move

How and why people moved

What your child practices

How and why people moved to and within the United States: Ellis and Angel Islands, the Irish Potato Famine, the Great Migration, the Dust Bowl, South Vietnamese refugees, and forced migrations such as the Trail of Tears.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 2.14 · how and why people have moved into and within the United States

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. People move to find work, to be safe or to have a better life.
  2. Immigrants long ago crossed oceans by ship.
  3. Some moves were forced and hard, like the Trail of Tears.

Example: Long ago, many immigrants crossed the ocean by… There were no planes long ago. They traveled on ships. Answer: ship

People on the Move in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 14 of 15 in 2nd grade Social Studies, after Reading Maps and before American Stories & Songs.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Today many immigrants travel to the United States by…

    • sailboat only
    • horse
    • wagon
    • airplane

  2. Question 2

    Ellis Island was a station where many immigrants…

    • grew peaches
    • arrived from Europe
    • launched rockets
    • mined coal

  3. Question 3

    Angel Island was a station on the West Coast where many immigrants arrived from…

    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • South America

  4. Question 4

    In the 1840s, many Irish families came to America because…

    • Ireland had too much food
    • a famine ruined the potato crop
    • a rocket crashed
    • they won a contest

  5. Question 5

    Many people died on the Trail of Tears from…

    • rocket accidents
    • cold, hunger and sickness
    • sunburn only
    • too much food

  6. Question 6

    Immigrants are people who…

    • live on ships forever
    • never leave home
    • move to a new country to live
    • only visit for a day

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