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If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island Lesson Plan

Page history last edited by Amanda Nelson 13 years ago

Immigration Lesson Plans

Intended Grade level: 4-6

Time required: Approx. eight - fifty five minute class periods

Primary Focus: The purpose of this lesson is to help students to develop an understanding of immigration to the United States through Ellis Island from 1830-1940 through the book, If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island, by Ellen Levine.

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students will study the history of immigration. The focus will be on Ellis Island. It is intended to give students a true immigrant experience. They will begin by reading a story on Ellis Island then becoming an immigrant and experiencing their arrival. Students will also complete activities that develop vocabulary.

Objectives: By the end of the lesson:

Students will learn key vocabulary from book, If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island.
Students will identify reasons why people immigrated to the United States.
Students will understand the conditions under which the immigrants came.
Students will understand the physical, mental, and legal inspections that each immigrant had to endure to be granted access to America.
Students will identify feelings and difficulties faced when families relocate to a new country that has different language and customs.
Students will relate to immigrants who can only take a few of their possessions with them when they move.
Students will be able to list various medical conditions that could prevent an immigrant from entering America through Ellis Island.

MN Social Studies Standards:

Standard I: U.S. History: G. Reshaping the Nation and the Emergence of Modern America, 1877-1916. The student will analyze the transformation of the American economy and the changing social and political conditions in response to the Industrial Revolution. 1. Students will identify and understand the reasons for the increase in immigration, growth of cities, new inventions, and political challenges to American government arising from the industrial revolution, and analyze their impact.

Standard IV: Historical skills: B. Historical Resources. The student will begin to use historical resources. 1. Students will identify, describe, and extract information from various types of historical sources, both primary and secondary.

Standard V: Geography: A. Concepts of Location. The student will identify and locate major physical and cultural features that played an important role in the history of the United States. 2. Students will locate the areas that were the major source regions for immigrants to the United States from 1800 to 1877.

Standard V: Geography: A. Concepts of Location. The student will identify and locate major countries, events and cultural features that played an important role in the history of the United States. 2. Students will locate the major source countries for immigration to the United States during the years 1877-1916.

Standard VII: Government and Citizenship: A. Civic Values, Skills, Rights and Responsibilities. The student will know how citizenship is established and exercised. 2. Students will distinguish between the rights of citizens and non-citizens and describe the use of this distinction throughout U.S. history.

Standard VII: Government and Citizenship: B. Beliefs and Principles of United States Democracy. The student will know symbols, songs, traditions, and landmarks/monuments that represent the beliefs and principles of the United States. 1. Students will explain why key national, state, and local symbols and landmarks and monuments are significant.

Materials:

Book, If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island, by Ellen Levine
PowerPoint/Quizlet of vocabulary terms
World map and stickers/thumb tacks
Various selection of books related to/about immigration and Ellis Island
Images of Ellis Island and the immigration process
Task cards for skits (optional)
Computer lab

Procedure:

Day 1: First day of the Immigration lesson. To begin, show students Schoolhouse Rocks, The Great American Melting Pot. Students will be shown pictures of Ellis Island and be introduced to the book, If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine. Before reading, the teacher will define the key vocabulary from the book via Powerpoint or Quizlet. The teacher will then read orally to class If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island. After reading the story, Teacher will review the vocabulary from the book in a PowerPoint presentation. Students should copy down the vocabulary and keep it in their journal. Students will be given two worksheets to complete related to the vocabulary (Definitions Worksheet, Imagery Worksheet ). As homework, students are to interview their parents and complete a worksheet as to where their family immigrated from.

Day 2: With the information students gathered as homework, students will create a bulletin board that shows the origin of the class. Using a large world map, students will place a sticker/thumb tack on the countries that their ancestors came from. The teacher will then lead a discussion on which regions the majority of the class comes from to show students that many people come from different places. Students will then choose from a selection of books related to immigration to read individually to provide more knowledge of the newly learned vocabulary words (See Resources for suggested books). Once finished students will complete a written book review in their journals giving a brief summary of the novel, describing two scenes, and giving their opinion as to whether other students would like reading the book. If they do not finish in class, it is to be taken home as homework.

Day 3: For start-up review students will be asked to list in their journals three reasons why a family would leave their homeland that they remember from the book read from Day 1. Students will then reflect on what it would be like to move to a foreign country where they didn’t know the customs or the language. Student will then decide which five possessions they would take with them if they could only take five. Theses items are to be drawn on a blank sheet of white paper to be later used for their Immigration Experience Day.

Each student will then be given a chance to present about the book they read the previous day and share what they learned with the class.

Students will then review the difference between first and steerage class through class discussion that they remember from the book. Students should conclude that steerage class was the most affordable, but the least comfortable. To conclude the review of steerage, students will be asked to step into a small rectangle in front of the room outline in masking tape on the floor. The teacher will ask students to squish together in the rectangle and pretend they are in third class and the boat is rocking back and forth. Students will then be asked to describe their experience on this “boat” with the class. Example questions: Did you expect these crowded conditions for your trip to America? How long do you think the trip will last if you were coming from Europe? How do you think the children held up? Why aren’t you below deck? If time, students will write a journal entry describing some of the feelings (fear, excitement, apprehension, hope) that they might have felt had they been steerage class passengers on the way to America.

Students will then be introduced to a cooperative learning assignment. Students are to be divided into 5 different groups (depending on class size, Avg. size being 25 students) with groups picked by the teacher. Students will choose a part of the book, If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island, specifically a part of the journey to America if you were traveling in the least expensive way. Examples include but not limited to: examination, travel on ship – sleeping arrangement, travel on ship – activities, and the doctor’s exam – chalk marks. Each group will then brainstorm ideas on what to do in their skit to show a part of the journey. Once ideas have been generated, the group will decide on one idea and start acting it out in a creative way.

Day 4: The teacher will present images (PowerPoint or show images from an online resource) of Ellis Island and the immigration process. Students will be prompted to respond to various questions. Example 1: Students will be shown a photo of immigrants jam-packed on the steerage deck and asked to respond to the following questions: Who are these people? What are some of the hardships of their voyage? From what economic class might they have come? How can you tell? How do you think these immigrants are feeling now? Why? Example 2: Students will be shown a photo of immigrants being checked by an inspector and asked the following questions for class discussion: What is happening in this photo? Why are the immigrants being inspected? How do you think they feel? Is the treatments they are receiving fair? Students will then be given the remainder of the class to perfect their skits.

Day 5: Students will be given a short time to prepare for their skit with their group. Each group will be given 5-7 minutes to present their skit to the class. Students will then go to the computer lab to explore the Interactive Tour of Ellis Island by Scholastic.com.

Day 6: Students will view a short video on Ellis Island from History.com. Students will be briefed as to the activities that will take place for their Immigration Experience Day. Students will then create their own passports/immigration cards for their Immigration Experience scheduled for the next day. Students will end the period playing Pictionary in groups with their vocabulary worksheets from Day 1.

Day 7: Immigration Experience Day: Students will pretend they are immigrating to the United States with their family. They will (in a sense) reenact coming to Ellis Island, passing through pretend checkpoints. Students will carry with them their passports/immigration cards and the worksheet of their possessions they chose to bring with them to this new country. Students will be grouped into families of 4-5 from various countries. They will go to the various stations set up around the room-the different processes a newly arrived immigrant went through when arriving in the early 1900’s. Various students will get cards with certain diseases and be handled accordingly at their station. If the students meet these qualifications of the station, they will be passed on to the next. If they don’t, they will be detained until the qualifications are met. Students who are sent to hospital or are detained/deported will go to Station 6, a jail like area. Students that haven’t been detained/deported should be congratulated and welcomed to the United States (In an ideal situation you should have an adult/parent volunteer running each station).

Station 1: Interview Questionnaire: Each immigrant will be interviewed as to why he or she left his or her country.
Station 2: Doctor Exam: Doctors will examine each immigrant.
Station 3: Arithmetic Problems: Immigrants will complete a variety of arithmetic problems (teacher's choice-possibly related to students current math unit) and count back from 20 to 1.
Station 4: Puzzles: Immigrants will complete a variety of puzzles (any puzzles the teacher has in the classroom).
Station 5: Reading: Immigrants will Students will (try) read a paragraph (in another language) or look at pictures of 8 faces and depict which ones are happy and which are sad.
Station 6: Hospital/Detainee/Deportation Area: a jail like area where immigrants wait until qualifications are met or they are deported.

**One could really take this activity far. It really depends on time and resources. But one thing to take it a step farther: require students to line up in the hallway and have an “inspector” at the classroom door (the imaginary border) to take everyone’s passport as they enter the class. As the students walk in, the inspector pays close attention to their clothing, their face, and skin-as a preliminary medical exam then directs them to the interviewer.

***All activities/questions based on information for the book, If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island, and other sources on immigration--no official documentation was found.

Day 8: Day of Reflection and Conclusions. Students will write a one-page paper on their experience of Immigrating to America. Students will be given prompts to help them write their reflection:

What were your feelings before, during, and after the activity?
What was the hardest/easiest thing about immigrating?
If you had a disease, what was it and what was it like in the immigration process?
Were you separated from your family?
What did you learn from this activity?

If students finish with class time to spare, students will be given a 4 by 4 blank grid in which they will choose vocabulary words in which they will use for bingo. Students will only be given the definitions of the word and they will have to match it with the correct vocabulary word. The first student with 4 in a row calls out “BINGO!”

Assessment/Evaluation:

Group cooperation

Group presentation of skit

Journal entries-descriptions and observations

Participation in Immigrant Experience activity

Reflection paper - Immigration Experience Rubric

Resources: (many can be used as extras to expand this lesson further)

Books/Other Written Literature:

Bunting, Eve. How Many Days to America A Thanksgiving Story, Clarion Books, New York, 1988.
Cohen, Barbara Cohen. Molly's Pilgrim. Yearling Books, New York, 1986.
Jacobs, William Jay. Ellis Island New Hope in a New Land, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1990.
Lawlor, Veronica. I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project. Puffin Books, 1995.
Lazarus, Emma. “The New Colossus.” (Sonnet) 1883.
Levine, Ellen. If Your Name was Changed at Ellis Island. Scholastic Inc., New York, 1996.
Levinson, Riki. Watch the Stars Come Out. Puffin Unicorn Books, New York, 1985.
Levitin, Sonia. Journey to America. Scholastic Inc. New York, 1970.
Maestro, Betsy. Coming To America The story of Immigration. Scholastic Inc., New York, 1996.
Peacock, Louise. At Ellis Island: A History in Many Voices. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2007.
Sandin, Joan. The Long Way To A New Land, Harper & Row, Publisher, 1981.
Stein, R. Conrad. Cornerstones of Freedom: Ellis Island. Children’s Press, 1992.

Videos:

The Great American Melting Pot, Schoolhouse Rock
Ellis Island, History .com
“Immigration to the U.S.: American History for Children,” time: 25 minutes. Video is on the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Chinese Immigration, Races of Immigration Today.
“Witness to History: Turn of the Century America,” time: 16 minutes. Video is on the change of life during the 20th century, Immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.
Island of Hope Island of Tears: The story of Ellis Island and the American immigration experience - Starring Gene Hackman (Actor), Charles Guggenheim (Director)
PBS documentary Ellis Island.
An American Tale
Coming to America - Starring Eddie Murphy

Online:

CoreKnowledge.org contains really great lesson plans related to immigration.
Ellis Island.org-History contains information on the history of Ellis Island. At this site, you can do a passenger search of their records. This may be a fun activity for older students.
History.com-Ellis Island contains videos and photographs related to Ellis Island and immigration to the U.S. They also have an interactive photo that shows a comparison of Ellis Island from 100 years ago and today.
Library of Congress-Lesson Plans-The Immigrant Experience contains a lesson plan on the immigrant experience. It compares the story Alice and Wonderland with immigration to the U.S. The lesson uses primary sources to show common themes of the immigrant experience.
National Archives Experience-Digital Vaults-Ellis Island contains digital vaults of the National Archive. It has photographs of the construction of Ellis Island and immigrants arriving in the U.S. It can be used as a primary source.
Statue of Liberty.org-Ellis Island History contains information on the history of Ellis Island and the now Ellis Island museum (much like Ellis Island.org). It also has information on the Statue of Liberty.
Scholastic.com-Interactive Tour of Ellis Island contains an interactive tour of Ellis Island. It has audio, video, and photographs of the immigrant experience.
ThinkQuest.org-The History of Ellis Island contains information on the history of Ellis Island. It also has great links to the immigration of different cultures to the U.S., a timeline, photographs, and immigrants stories.