Immigration and American Revolution

Mrs. Brennan and Mrs. Kneeland

Together, Mrs. Brennan and Mrs. Kneeland visited our classrooms as guests from the past telling stories of immigration and Ellis Island from the perspective of children immigrating from Italy.
Mrs. Brennan brought a suitcase filled with items that she would show as she told her story.  The students were so eager to hear her story.

Family was our focus and to go with these lessons, each child brought home a square that they decorated and filled with information about their heritage.  Then they brought it back to school and shared about it.  We tied them all together to make a class family quilt.  We also ready the story "The Name Jar" and made suitcases filled with items we might bring with us on a journey we might make.

We also spent time learning about people who lived during the American Revolution.  Students studied important people and then after choosing a person, they researched information about that person.  As a culmination, they created a living poster of that person.  They put their face in the hole of the poster and talked to the class as if they were that person.  Each student wrote facts about their person using first person voice and then spoke in front of the class.  They were adorable and the audience (all 3rd graders) learned interesting facts about many people!