Kirsten Leighton

Unit: People Move From Place to Place

Title: Immigration at Ellis Island
3rd Grade
Background Information:
This lesson is on immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the
lesson focuses in on immigration through Ellis Island. The lesson should
take approximately 45 minutes. Give the read-aloud about 15 minutes,
and the Elis Island interactive tour 20-30 minutes, the tour should be
exploratory and may take longer than 20 minutes depending on how
technology works, the students also need time to complete the KWL
chart.
Integration of Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to actively listen to the read aloud story,
Hannahs Journal, and respond during discussion of read aloud
about specific characters.
Students will be able to recall information from the read aloud
and previous learning to complete KWL chart.
Students will be able complete the KWL chart using complete
sentences.
Students will be able to complete the KWL chart with relevant
information about what they have learned.
Students will be able to appropriately use technology, stay on
the webpage until activity is completed and follow the directions
given to them in the interactive tour.
Standards:
8.1.3.C: Conduct teacher guided inquiry on assigned topics using
specified historical sources.
Anticipatory Set:
Read the first two paragraphs from the textbook on page 180; explain
to the class this is a story from the point of view of a young girl named
Hannah as they leave Lithuania and head to America.
Samuel said we must wait for our own ferry, but we wouldnt be taken
to America, not yet. First we had to go to an immigration station on
Ellis Island.
Ellis Island? Id never heard of it, but Samuel said its called the Island
of Tears because so many people fail the inspection and get sent
back.

Ask the class, how would you feel if you found out that you had to go
to a place called the Island of Tears? Let the class discuss. Explain to
the class that we will be learning about immigration in the 1800s and
Ellis Island.

Procedures:
Write the word immigration as well as the definition (the action of
coming to live permanently in a foreign country) on the board.
Explain how Ellis Island was where immigrants had to go to be
accepted into America if they entered from the East Coast.
Read the full read-aloud of Hannahs Journal on page 178.
Explain that this story is historical fiction before reading,
historical fiction tells of a true event in history but that Hannah
herself was imaginary
After read aloud, ask students how the different characters
referred to in Hannahs Journal were alike? (Everyone had
dreamed of coming to America and they were now here.
Everyone seemed excited to see the Statue of Liberty. All the
passengers seemed a little frightened of what lay ahead.)
After the discussion of the characters, have students get their
iPads and hand out the KWL chart (appendix A)
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonplans/graphicorg/pdfs/kwl.pdf
Have the students fill out the first and second column of the KWL
chart, the what do I know? column and the what do I want to
find out?. Explain that the students should write in complete
sentences and everything should be meaningful because this will
be collected. They will fill out what they already know and what
they know from the read aloud about Ellis Island as well as what
they want to know about Ellis Island.
The link to the Ellis Island Interactive Tour will be on the
classroom homepage. Have the students go to the classroom
homepage.
Explain to the students that we will all be arriving at Ellis Island
in 1901, just like Hannah did! Have them click on the link
(http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/index.ht
m)
Once everyone is on the interactive website have them go
through the 10 stops of Ellis Island (1st stop: The Passage, 2nd
stop: The Arrival, 3rd stop: The Ellis Island Baggage Room, 4th
stop: Stairs to the Registry Room, 5th stop: Registry Room, 6th
stop: Medical Exam, 7th stop: Legal Inspection, 8th stop:
Detainees, 9th stop: Stairs of Separation, 10th stop: The Kissing
Post)

Have the students look at the pictures and watch the videos that
go along with the tour.
Once they completed the interactive tour have the students go
back to the KWL chart, now they will complete the last column,
what did I learn?

Differentiation:
For lower level students: they will only be expected to write
information about Ellis Island on their KWL charts, they will not be
graded on completed sentences. They will also be able to work with a
partner if they chose to help fill out the chart.
For the higher level students: this lesson should be appropriate for
them, but if they are able to read through the interactive tour faster
than the other students they will be able to get their journals and write
or draw pictures about what three things they would bring with them if
they were an immigrant leaving their country and going through Ellis
Island. This is just a free write for children to do if they finish early and
will not be graded.
Closure:
Bring the class back together once everyone has completed the KWL
chart, have the students share some things that they learned from the
interactive tour. Collect the KWL chart. Explain to the class that
tomorrow they will be learning more about immigration.
Formative/Summative Assessment:
Formative: Listen for the responses of the students during the
discussions; make sure that the responses are relevant to the
discussion. Monitor the students as they go on the interactive tour of
Ellis Island, watch that the students are on task and participating.
Record if any students are struggling with any of the information from
the lesson.
Summative: Collect the KWL chart, this chart will go toward the overall
unit grade, grade based on (1) completion of the chart, (2) if the
information written is coherent and relevant to the topic of Ellis Island,
and (3) complete sentences were used.
Materials:
Hannahs Journal (textbook page 178)
KWL Chart (appendix A)
iPads
Ellis Island Interactive Tour
(http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/index.ht
m)

Technology:
Ellis Island Interactive Tour on the iPads
(http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/index.htm)
Reflection on Planning:
A concern for this lesson is that it relies on technology for a majority of
the lesson; if there is any issue with the Internet or iPads this lesson
could be a wash. However, I really think the interactive tour is
beneficial for the children; it has so many pictures and actually has a
video from that time of people coming off a boat onto Ellis Island, the
children will really be able to have a visual understanding of this time
period. And because the children have to click through different stops
in the tour, they are able to read and see different materials and it also
keeps them involved.
Content Outline:
a) Moving to the East
i) Making a new life
(1)Main idea: For immigrants on the East and West Coasts,
settling in a new country was hard.
(2)Ellis Island in New York Harbor
(a) Until 1890 individual states regulated immigration, most
of the immigrants in the 1800s were from England,
Ireland, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries, New
York processed immigrants within hours, not like Angel
Island, Ellis Island was seen as a beacon of hope for
incoming immigrants
(http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-island-history)
(b)Compare to Angel Island
(c) Hard for Chinese to be permitted into country from
Angel Island
(d)Hard for Irish to find jobs in NYC, opposed to Roman
Catholics and people didnt want their jobs taken by
Irish who were willing to work for less
(http://www.ushistory.org/us/25f.asp)
ii) Making Contributions

(1)Chinese helped with building railroads

(2)Vladimir Zworykin, Russian, helped invent TV
b) Extended Lesson, Hannahs Journal (historical fiction story)
i) Hannah is from Lithuania
(1)Lithuania, 1901 background - Lithuania is located in the
northeast part of Europe. It is apart of a group of countries
called the Baltic Republics, created in 1918. Lithuania is on
the east coast of the Baltic Sea
(http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/LithuanianAmericans.html) this website is trusted because it provides
all types of culture, demographics, history, and more for
almost all countries. Many sources are provided on the
site.

Appendix A