Lesson Plan #: CC-0069

Lesson 5: Immigrants Come to America


Objectives: The student will be able to:

1. describe the hardships faced by immigrants coming to the United States.

2. explain the reasons people came to the United States from all over the world.

3. understand the feelings associated with being an immigrant.


Description of lesson/activities:

1. Students should be able to describe their knowledge of immigration gained from the primary grades CROSSROADS lessons. A book used in second grade, _Ellis Island: New Hope in a New Land_, by William Jay Jacobs, is also appropriate at this level to supplement texts and discussion.

2. A variety of books are available for students to read about immigration, both during this time period and more recently. Students could choose to read one or the teacher could read one to the class. Discussion of these books should center around the common concerns faced by immigrants. _Who Belongs Here? An American Story_, by Margy Burns Knight, is a picture book that can be used to bring such a discussion together.

3. Students should be encouraged to bring photographs or other artifacts of their immigrant ancestors to class. While not all may be able to do so, the collection that is brought to class will show the breadth of the immigrant experience. If put on perm anent display, each picture or artifact should be identified with a label that tells the name of the student, the relationship of the immigrant to the student, and the nation of origin. Recent immigrants can bring in pictures of their parents (or themselves).

4. The classroom may be transformed into the hold of a ship for an "Immigration Day." Students can be assigned or select a nation to represent, coming to class that day dressed as a person immigrating from that nation. Folk songs may be sung, ethnic foods eaten, and the teacher could "process" students as they enter Ellis Island. Such an activity relies heavily on the imagination of the teacher and the students.