Content Area Literacy

Ellis Island Immigration Lesson

Grade: 3rd

Content: Social Studies

TEKS: 113.16(b)(13)(C)
(13)Economics. The student understands patterns of work and economic activities in the United States. The student is expected to:
(C) analyze the effects of immigration, migration, and limited resources on the economic development and growth of the United States.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/

Title: Interactive Tour of Ellis Island

Author: Scholastic

Summary: This is an interactive tour of Ellis Island. The students can follow the steps of the immigrants. There are 10 stops: first the boat that brought the immigrants from the country to Ellis Island, second the arrival of the boat where the statue of liberty greeted the immigrants, third the baggage room where their items were checked, fourth the stairs where the immigration process started, fifth the registry room where people waited to get inspected, sixth the medical exam, seventh the legal inspection where they were asked 29 questions and had to get each right, eighth was for some people who were detained due to failed medical exam etc., ninth the stairs of separation were the filed out to their final destination, finally the kissing post where families were reunited and enter the United States. Throughout the tour the students can hear stories, see historical films and photos, read facts and learn how Ellis Island played in the story of American immigration.

Instructional strategy: One idea I have is to have students in groups take the tour. Then assign groups a specific point on the map and have them research in depth what happened at that check point including stories, pictures, films have the students create a presentation about their point. Then present their project to the class after we would have a discussion.

Another idea I had was as the students went through the interactive map have them take notes of what happened at each stop then as a class we would create a simulation in the classroom designating parts of the classroom as each check point. Then have students pick between working as an American at a station and acting as an immigrant. If they choose to be an American they would research what happened at that point and create a script. The students who choose immigrants would research the heritage, culture etc. of people who came to America and ‘become’ that person. I would choose some student immigrants to be healthy or unhealthy, if they were unhealthy I would provide them with the disease/sickness and some information on that sickness. Once it was time to do the simulation the students would play out what happened at Ellis Island. After the simulation we would have a discussion.

Content Area: Science (with art)

TEA Pre-K Guidelines:

VI.B.3. Child recognizes, observes, and discusses the relationship of organisms to their environments.
The child: observes, discusses, and records seasonal changes in the neighborhood trees and organisms.

VI.C.1 Child identifies, compares, discusses earth materials and their properties and uses.
The child: identifies the importance of soil, sunlight, air, and water to plant growth.

VIII.A.1 Child uses a variety of art materials and activities for sensory experience and exploration.
The child: creates artwork inspired by music.

VIII.B.1 Child participates in classroom music activities.
The child: sings about concepts learned in the curriculum (singing about planting seeds when the theme is gardening, transportation songs, etc.).

Song:

I Plant A Seed
(Sung to: I’m a Little Teapot)

I plant a little seed in the cold, cold ground.
Out comes the yellow sun, big and round.
Down come the raindrops soft and slowly
Up comes the flower grow, grow, grow!

Found at: http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/spring/songs.htm

Video Info: Plant a Little Seed Song
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTm_roXBaU8

I chose to focus on gardening and the cycle a seed goes through to become a plant. In pre-k students learn about the world around them and plant growth is something they focus on. I chose to incorporate some of the art curriculum into the lesson by teaching about the cycle through the song, “I Plant a Seed”, which is sung to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”. This song can be sung using kinesthetic movements that help the children to get into the song and make sense of the words and the life cycle of a seed. It would be good to also read a picture book during the unit, such as Eric Carle’s The Tiny Seed. After learning and acting out the song, students would draw a picture to describe the life cycle as they see it. During the drawing time it may be effective to have the song playing on repeat so that they are hearing the cycle while drawing it, which would help to make students remember it better.

By Jennifer L.Holm

Blog Reference: http://teachingstarstudents.blogspot.com/2012/06/4th-grade-chapter-books-set-in-florida.html

113.16 (B(8)) Social Studies Grade 5

The student understands the location and patterns of settlement and the geographic factors that influence where people live.

113.16 (B(9))

The student understands how people adapt to and modify their environment.

Summary:

The story is set in 1935 in Key West, Florida. The main character in this novel is a young 11 year old girl who is called Turtle. She has to move to Key West to live with her relatives while her mother gets her life together. The protagonist has been through a lot of obstacles in her upbringing and has a very skeptical view on life. The time period of the book is the Great Depression, where many people are struggling during that time. The book uses a lot of cultural references to that area in that time period, and it is written from Turtle’s perspective.

I believe that because this chapter book is written from the protagonists perspective a good strategy that could be utilized would be the letter writing strategy. I think that I would even tailor this strategy so that the students write a letter to Turtle. I know that the students would benefit from having to write a letter to her because she is the same age as them; so it would be as though they are talking to a peer from a different time period. My intention for using this strategy with this book would be to have students critically think about how to communicate with the protagonist in this book who may or may not be experiencing similar life situations and feelings as the students in my classroom.

Sir Cumference and the first round table: A Mathematics Adventure
By:Cindy Neuschwander

Illustrated by: Wayne Geehan

Sir Cumference and the first round table is great book that teaches math with a fun story. The king gathers all his knights from Camelot because he believes that their neighbors, the circumscribers, are preparing to make war. After their first meeting at a rectangle shaped table , Sir Cumference, goes home to his wife Lady Di and his son Radius and complains about a throat ache because of all the screaming he had to so everyone could hear him. With the help of his family they think of different table shapes and try them out with the king and the knights. After several different failed attempts, they finally find a great type of table to hold their meeting in.

As an activity I would give the students a renctangle-shaped piece of cardboard which represents the first table. The students would have to go through the book, and cut their cardboard into shapes just like Sir Cumference did in order to go through the shapes and get the final table. They will have to take notes and make sketches of what they did to make the next shape as well as label them.