Advocates for Human Rights
Civic Engagement and U.S. Immigration Policy
To conclude their study of immigration and human rights, class members create a civic engagement project centered on an issue of immigration and designed to influence US immigration policy. They examine examples of attempts to influence...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Federal Policy and Immigration
How is federal policy established? To gain insight into this complex and often messy process, class members read an article that uses information on attempts to establish public policy in immigration to illustrate the role proposed...
Curated OER
Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems
Poems carved into the wooden walls of the Asian immigrant prisons on Angel Island provide upper elementary graders an opportunity to study not only the story behind the poems but to also focus on the figurative language employed by the...
Curated OER
The Immigration Experience
Students research the reasons people immigrated to the United States. For this United States history lesson, students explore the causes and effects of immigrating. Students engage in a role-playing scenario , watch a video, and explore...
Curated OER
Immigration, Where Do We Go From Here?
Students describe difference between immigration and emigration, and summarize impact that immigration and emigration have on a community.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Upton Sinclair, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harvey W. Wiley
Though Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle shocked the American public into a thorough examination of the meat-packing industry, the author was disappointed that his book's main argument—the exploitation of American immigrants—was not part...
Curated OER
The Embodied Presidency
Tenth graders compare and contrast the immigration reform policies of Presidents Reagan and Bush. In this immigration instructional activity, 10th graders examine primary documents related to each president's policy for immigration...
Curated OER
Gateway to America
Fifth graders study about immigration, Ellis Island, and tenement life from 1890 to 1924. They create an identity of a fictitious immigrant and describe what they find when they arrive in New York.
Curated OER
Understanding Tenement Life
Learners look at life for immigrants in the 19th century. In this immigrant lesson, students discuss how the poor German, Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants lived in tenement housing. They research the reasons they came to America...
Curated OER
My Antonia: K-W-H-L Strategy
Use the well-known KWHL chart as a tool for building up to a research project and oral presentation related to Willa Cather's My Antonia. Starting with a class brainstorm, pupils research and gradually narrow down topics relating to...
All for KIDZ
Building Relationships: The Orphan of Ellis Island
Family and friendship are two very important themes of the historical fiction novel The Orphan of Ellis Island by Elvira Woodruff. From video clips and writing prompts to reader's theater and family interviews, this resource provides...
Curated OER
Overland Trails To The West
After observing a map of trails that settlers took in the 1800s, your class will write a journal with the perspective of a settler. In their journals, they must describe the trail they traveled, geographical features they saw, states and...
Curated OER
Paraphrasing and Summarizing
Read an article about the migration of our ancestors and write a paragraph. Pupils paraphrase and summarize to restate the information found in a nonfiction text. They write a shortened version of the reading to demonstrate the...
NPR
Civil Rights of Japanese-American Internees
Prompted by a viewing of Emiko and Chizu Omori’s Rabbit in the Moon, a documentary about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, high schoolers examine a series of documents, including the Bill of Rights and the UN’s...
PBS
Baker's Gold
Students examine art of the California Gold Rush. In this visual arts lesson, students analyze the photography and art of Isaac Wallace Baker. Students also conduct further research about the miners of the era in order to create...
Curated OER
Border to Border
Learners use the Internet to gather information on the country of Mexico. They also discover the culture of their people and compare them with the United States population. They take a virtual tour of some of Mexico's most historical ruins.
Curated OER
Coming of Age Readings: Experiences in Korea and by Asians in America
Bring multi-cultural experiences and literature into your language arts class with this lesson. Here, young readers explore the points of view of first and second-generation Asian immigrants with a list of various fiction and nonfiction...
Curated OER
The New England Fishing Industry:Sea Changes in a Community
Explore New England's economic and cultural past and possible issues New Englanders will face in the future. Middle and high schoolers research the fishing industry and the need for regulation. They analyze the topography of New England...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Refugees from the Caribbean: Cuban and Haitian “Boat People”
Should refugees fleeing poverty be allowed the same entrance into the United States as those fleeing persecution? High schoolers read about US foreign policy in the late 20th century regarding refugees from Cuba and Haiti, and engage in...
Curated OER
Creating a North Carolina Gallery
Eighth graders, in teams, create a new North Carolina Gallery at the North Carolina Museum of Art. They explore the concept of citizenship by creating criteria for an artist's inclusion in the gallery.
Carnegie Library
Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers.
American Bar Association
What Is Separation of Powers?
Who has the power? Scholars investigate the creation of the three branches of government in the United States Constitution. They analyze just why the framers created the branches the way they did.
Curated OER
Men of Steel
Learners explore early 20th century steel making. In this U.S. history steel making lesson, students view and describe a postcard and a picture depicting exaggerated aspects of the steel industry. Learners listen to a poem about Joe...
Curated OER
Constructing Narrative from the Migrant Experience in Literature
Excerpts from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and from John Fante's Ask the Dust, as well as a variety of primary source documents provide the background for an examination of the migrant experience from 1920-1945.