Curated OER
Chinese Immigration 1860s-1880s
Eighth graders consider the plight of Chinese immigrants to America. For this immigration lesson, 8th graders analyze political cartoons from the late 1800's that exemplify American public opinion regarding Chinese immigrants. The...
Curated OER
The American Mosaic
Young scholars discuss what it would be like to be new to a town. They are then asked questions related to the immigrants coming to America. Extensions of this lesson are available.
Curated OER
Chinese Immigration
Students identify artifacts from Chinese immigrants that are common to other immigrant groups, describe how American society discriminated against the Chinese, describe contribution of Chinese immigrants to American society, discuss two...
Curated OER
History and Geography: Making a New Nation
Fifth graders examine the contributions of the different groups that built the American Nation. They identify the successive waves of new immigration, explain their attraction to America, and study the importance of Ellis Island.
Curated OER
There Is No Place Like Home! U. S. Immigration in the 1800's.
Students explore immigration in the late 1800's. They identify and describe the settlement patterns of European immigrants to the U.S. Students work in groups to research immigration from specified countries.
Curated OER
Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
Students discover what it was like for immigrants coming to Ellis Island. In this immigration lesson, students go to a scholastic website about immigration and complete a related worksheet. They see the different tests given there.
Curated OER
An Immigration Graph
Students practice reading and understanding information in a table and converting the information to graph form. They create a graph showing the number of immigrants per country of origin between 1899 and 1924.
Curated OER
An Immigrant's Journey
Pupils use books, resource CDs, and the Internet to research and collect images of the experiences of immigrants in 1907. They are divided into groups of four to write journal entries for a fictional, yet historically accurate, immigrant.
Curated OER
U.S. History: Immigrant Scrapbooks
Pupils role-play as immigrants coming to America around the turn of the 19th century. They conduct Internet research and print out pictures to use in an immigrant scrapbook. Students write captions for the pictures and narratives to...
Curated OER
Chinese Immigration in the Mid-19th Century
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this Chinese immigration lesson, students research the Chinese immigration between 1850 and 1882.
Curated OER
Immigration
High schoolers explore the concept of immigration. In this immigration lesson, students read literature, analyze photographs, and evaluate political cartoons that reflect feelings about immigration in America during Industrialization....
Curated OER
Studying the African Immigration Lesson Plan
Pupils read a narrative, conduct an interview and write an autobiographical piece highlighting their findings about an immigrant's experience leaving their country.
Curated OER
Retain or Abandon, Adapt or Convert? The Immigrant's Dilemma
Middle schoolers read and discuss a narrative exploring how immigrants retain their own cultures or assimilate into the host country. They examine the emigrant's experience in Liberia and write a position paper.
Curated OER
Investigating Immigration and Settlement in Wisconsin
Fourth graders identify the origins of their own ancestors and possible reasons for immigration. They research immigrant groups of Wisconsin, including origins and daily life, and then create timelines depicting their settlements.
Curated OER
Social Studies and Reading Integration
Kids take a quiz on the concepts that define community and culture. They answer 10 multiple choice questions regarding family traditions, immigration, Hispanic culture, and community.
Curated OER
America Moves to the City (1865-1900)
Statistical data can show shifts in human populations without bias or a prescribed historical point of view. View bar graphs and charts that describe new influxes in urbanization, immigration, and suffrage by state during the turn of the...
Curated OER
My Name Is Osama
Students read a short story about a young Iraqi boy, which opens up classroom discussion about the difficulties some immigrant students face, especially in the days after September 11.
Curated OER
Is Coming to the United States of America Good For the Immigrant?
Students evaluate impact of American politics, economy, culture, and environment on the immigrant, gather first person data, and use it to develop a persuasive presentation.
Smithsonian Institution
A Dream Deferred: DACA
"Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses" has even more meaning for some children. The resource explores the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Scholars analyze primary sources and participate in group...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Educating Non-Citizens
High schoolers distinguish between the privileges of being a U.S. Citizen and privileges that are forfeited if not a U.S. Citizen. For this history lesson, students analyze the rights of people in a democratic society through research,...
DocsTeach
WWI America: Babe Ruth's Draft Card
Even the Great Bambino wasn't above suspicion during World War I. An eye-opening activity explores America's greatest pastime through the lens of government officials during WWI. Academics examine Babe Ruth's draft card to understand how...
US House of Representatives
Hispanic-American Members of Congress in the Civil Rights Era, 1945–1977
Debates around immigration in the news are not new, but they are a defining feature of the Hispanic American experience throughout the twentieth century. Looking through the lens of Hispanic Americans in Congress, class members explore...
National Endowment for the Humanities
“Every Day We Get More Illegal” by Juan Felipe Herrera
A study of Jan Felipe Herrera's poem "Every Day We Get More Illegal" opens the door for a discussion on immigration. To begin, class members examine the photograph "Desert Survival," record their observations of the image, and then...
Curated OER
German Immigration: Part I
Students develop a construct and can come to an understanding of the principle causes of European immigration to the United States during the three decades between 1930 and 1960.