If+America+Were+a+Village+Activity+Reinforcing


 * If America Were a Village **

__**Objective:**__ Students will be able to explain how movements of people affects the demographics of the United States by looking at statistics of the United Staes.

__** Materials: **__
 * Poster board (12)
 * Photocopied pages (enough for every member of the group)
 * Markers (one per group)
 * Highlighters (enough for every member of the group)
 * //If America Were a Village // by David J. Smith

__**Procedure: **__ Break up the class into twelve groups. Each group will be given a poster board with one of the twelve headings from the book written at the top of the poster board. Provide photocopies of the page the group is supposed to read for each member of the group.

The titles are:
 * "Who Are We?
 * Where Do We Come From?
 * Where Do We Live?
 * What Are Our Families Like?
 * What Religions Do We Practice?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">What Do We Do?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">How Old Are We?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">How Wealthy Are We?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">What Do We Own?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">What Do We Use?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">How Healthy Are We?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">America Past and Future"

//<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> Modeling: // <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">On a poster board, write "Welcome to America" at the top. Using this as an example, read the photocopied page aloud to the class and highlight important information as it is read. For example: "July, 4-Americans celebrate Independence Day."

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">After reading the rest of the page aloud and ask the class what other text to highlight. For example, the students could suggest: <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">"One new person is added to the U.S. population every twelve seconds."or "More than 306 million people live in the United States today."

//<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> Engage: // <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Have the student groups read their page as a group and highlight important and interesting parts of the passage. Students need to write down the main ideas of their section and illustrate it. Students also need to connect how their section relates to the movement of people. This activity can be expanded by having students compare the number in the United States for their category to their town or state.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Have students share their posters with this class.

__**Extension:**__ This book can be expanded into an integrated unit by exploring fractions, decimals, and percents with the facts that are presented in the book.

__<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">**Other Ohio Standards** __ <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> Grade 8 <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Theme - U.S. Studies from 1492-1877 <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Topic - Human Systems 17. Americans began to develop a common national identity among its diverse regional and cultural populations based on democratic