Immigrants

On the first day of the lesson students enjoyed a visit from the past during this lesson's historical perspective activity. Melissa and Melody visited each classroom and shared their Ellis Island and immigration story. The lesson began with a focus on family. Students shared their ideas about what they know about "family".

Melody then introduced herself as an Italian immigrant. She brought her suitcase filled with artifacts that were pulled out one-by-one. Melody told a story about each item as she captured everyone's attention. We reviewed the six big questions about Melody's immigrant (Who she was, What she travelled in to get to Ellis Island, When she arrived, Where she came from, Why she came to America, and How she chose the items in her suitcase).

Students listened to The Name Jar, on the second day, to understand how some immigrants were forced to change or modify their names. The story is about This is a story about Unhei, a girl who recently moved from Korea to America and is getting used to a new school. Other students are unable to pronounce her name and she considers changing it to be accepted. The Name Jar helps students with empathy and acceptance of others. Students completed  a graphic organizer to keep track of the story's beginning, middle, and end.

Following the story, students participated in a name activity. They were asked how they got their names. Some students were named after a grandmother or grandfather, some were named after a combination of relatives, and some were given names that were popular the year they were born.

On the final and third day of the lesson, students packed their suitcase for travel. They were given a construction paper shaped case that opened and closed similar to a file. Students filled out their names on the attached tags. They then selected magazine images or drew pictures of items they would choose to pack for their travel. They were reminded to choose needs versus wants, but sometimes the decisions were hard to make. It was interesting to walk around the room during this activity as individuals explained the reasons behind their choices.

As a culminating class activity, each student was asked to complete a story quilt square. The square was divided into 9 equal squares that students needed to fill in based on the questions they chose to answer about their family. Each story square required the center to be filled with a picture or a photo. Melody hand tied each square for a class quilt. Students shared their square on the last day of the lesson, explaining  a little about their own heritage.