"Migration" Image for Teaching Community

Click image to enlarge.

Image from ​Migrants
Written and illustrated by Issa Watanabe
​Gecko Press, 2019

This visually spectacular, wordless picture book offers a sobering but hopeful illustration of immigration, from the perspective of those traveling to a new home. Please note, while this image is appropriate for any age, this book has some sensitive content. 

The procedure below is a general outline of how you might use this image to teach about community. This seems most helpful during the initial community-building days of back-to-school. These steps are rudimentary; you will have ideas about how to expand on this process.

How you might use this image to teach community:

1. Give students time to study the image.
2. Ask them what they notice and engage them in general conversation about the image.
3. Ask them to describe what the animals are doing. Ask students why the animals are doing those things.
4. Ask them to think about how the animals feel, and how they know how the animals feel. They might say serious, focused, busy, etc. 
5. Ask them how the animals feel about each other, and how they know.
6. Throughout the conversation, children will make observations that include characteristics of a community. You might write these on a piece of chart paper. For example, students might mention that the animals work together, that they are helping each other, that they share a space, that they are taking care of each other, that they are different but seem to belong together, etc.
7. After listing the characteristics of a community on a chart, write the word community at the top of the chart. 
8. Read through the chart and let students think about how each of the items on the chart relate to the classroom community.
9. Hang the chart in the classroom for reference later. When a student demonstrates something on the list, refer to it when you name and celebrate the way the student is taking care of the classroom community.
10. Invite students to write about the image and the community it depicts. They can write about how the whole community works together, or they can zoom in on some aspects of the community.