Curated OER
The Diversity of Filipinos in the United States
ELLs are introduced to the experiences of Filipino immigrants to the United States. As a class, they discuss the various waves of immigration to the United States and state the reasons why they would leave the Philippines. They compare...
ProCon
Illegal Immigration
Should immigrants who illegally reside in the United States be eligible for citizenship? With information about undocumented immigrant population estimates, sanctuary cities, and unaccompanied immigrant children, pupils consider the pros...
University of Minnesota
Making an Immigrant Story
Budding historians research the trip immigrants to the United States take and the reasons behind their willingness to start over in a new place. Groups create their own video lessons outlining the story of human migration from departure...
Curated OER
Immigration Project
Students visit Ellis Island Immigration Museum (as a field trip or a virtual visit) and pretend to be Italian immigrants to the United States. They write a journal entry detailing their first week in the United States. They interview an...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Immigration Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
The read-aloud unit focuses on immigration. Scholars hear stories about people's sacrifices and their journey to and experience in another country. Pupils discuss readings, practice vocabulary skills and participate in extension...
NPR
Is There Really an Immigration Line?
If you've ever looked at the US immigration system, you know that it is complex and a source of controversy. An insightful lesson plan encourages learners to conduct their own analyses of the US immigration system by asking them to...
Curated OER
Immigrant Arrivals
Students create a multimedia presentation comparing the experiences of immigrants who arrived at New York's Ellis Island with the experiences of those who arrived at California's Angel Island.
Curated OER
Latin America and United States Policy Today
High schoolers compare the situation of Latin American immigrants with the situation of immigrants from other areas of the world. They use media to obtain information on topics of academic interest, personal interest, and intellectual...
Academy of American Poets
The Immigrant Experience
The Buttonhook by Mary Jo Salter is the focus of a unit that explores the immigration experience to Ellis Island. First, scholars bring in an artifact that represents their heritage. A group-exercise allows them to share and discuss...
Curated OER
Coming to America
Through this set of three lessons about Ellis Island, class members will learn about why immigrants came to the United States, find out about the difficulties that went along with coming to America, become familiar with the immigration...
Advocates for Human Rights
The Rights of Migrants in the United States Lesson Plan: Traveling Suitcases
Two activities bridge English language arts and social studies to take an inside look into immigration. Scholars interview a family member or someone they know who immigrated here. A crafted suitcase features information obtained in the...
EngageNY
Connecting Informational Text with Litearature: Building Background Knowledge About Mexican Immigration, California, and the Great Depression
Help your class transition as the setting in the novel Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, moves from Mexico to California. Beginning with prior knowledge, and moving into jigsaw research groups, class members add to and create posters...
Curated OER
The Immigrant Experience in America
Learners explore immigration in the United States. In this immigration lesson, students read about Ellis Island and tenement houses as they conduct research regarding the topic in order to write an essay.
Curated OER
The Poetry of Chinese Immigration
Numerous people from China immigrated to the US during the era of industrialization and expansion. Provide your class with a glimpse into the life of a Chinese immigrant through the poetry they left behind. They then compose a poem of...
EngageNY
Close Reading: Paragraph 1 of “Refugee and Immigrant Children: A Comparison” (from “Refugee Children in Canada: Searching for Identity”)
What common challenges do refugees and immigrants face? Using the 9th lesson plan from the 20-part Grade 8 ELA Module 1, Unit 2 series, pupils read about the similarities between refugees' and immigrants' adaptation processes. Partners...
Museum of Tolerance
Immigration Journeys
Through the journey of four stories of immigration, scholars complete graphic organizers and apply knowledge to create a visual representation of their findings on a large poster. Third and fourth readers write a letter to their family...
Curated OER
1900 America: Historical Voices, Poetic Visions
Students examine the United States at the turn of the century. Using primary source documents, they interpret them within a specific historical context. Using this information, they write a poem with metaphors and a specific meter They...
Curated OER
A Comparison of Immigrant Language Policies (Canada and the United States)
Students explore the linguistic backgrounds that have shaped the cultural perspectives of Canada and the United States. In this cultural comparison lesson, students create a class presentation that reflects the similarities and...
K12 Reader
Discrimination Against Gold Rush Immigrants
Immigration to the US has been a topic of discussion for many years. Inform your class about discrimination against immigrants during the Gold Rush with a short reading passage. After reading, class members answer five questions related...
Curated OER
Immigrating to America
Students study the American immigration experience. In this Ellis Island lesson, students research primary documents from the immigration station, take a tour of the station, and then prepare and perform dramatic presentations based on...
Curated OER
The Immigrant Experience In America
Students study immigration, Ellis Island, and tenement life from 1890 to 1924. Each student create an identity of an immigrant and write an essay in the first person. Essays describe what they found when they arrived in New York City.
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...
Anti-Defamation League
Understanding and Analyzing “The U.S. of Us” by Richard Blanco
Current immigration issues and the rhetoric surrounding the controversies come into focus with a lesson that uses Richard Blanco's anthem, "The U.S. of Us," written after the August 2019 attack in El Paso, Texas, to open a discussion of...
National Humanities Center
Teaching The Great Gatsby: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
The 41 slides in a professional development seminar model how to use close reading techniques to examine the many layers of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. In addition to passages from the novel, slides provide biographical...