Happy weekend! Most of you like me have MLK Day off tomorrow, so I was thinking about resources that I am using right now that might helpful to you during this time of year! I am usually teaching Immigration during this time or gearing up to teach it.
I have two texts that I recommend for teaching Immigration, but I have included a few other texts below I have used as well. There are SO many great books and resources out there on this topic. I have also linked a couple great websites I have used, as well as a digital escape room that your kids will love!
I do an Immigration Simulation with my students as a big culmination to this unit, but I think I will do a separate post about that. There is just too much to include!
This text is awesome because it is a question/answer format with short sections that can easily be read as a whole group, independent, or partner.
The If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island Book Study Workbook below has activities to support comprehension while reading this text. This book is an introduction to the journey immigrants made when America was young. It guides students through the book as they get a better understanding of just what it would be like to be an immigrant coming to America. This can be printed OR it can be a DIGITAL Easel activity.
This text is a novel and would be great to use in Book Clubs. I had my class reading this text as a choice for a small groups. It would be awesome if you had a class set of this book and could have the kids read along with you. I have provided the link above so you can view this text.
Dominic Cantori is touring Ellis Island with his class on a field trip. Dominic gets separated from the group and hides in the museum. Suddenly the voice of an Italian immigrant comes to life and begins to speak to him through one of the exhibits. Before he knows it, he is transported back in time to Italy 1908. He unlocks the door to his past and discovers the history of his own family.
The Comprehension Workbook for The Orphan of Ellis Island is a great companion to the text by having students answer questions, make predictions, draw conclusions and analyze the text. There is a character study, as well as comprehension questions for the chapters. It is one of my favorite books to use for studying Immigration.
Other books that I have used for Immigration either whole group or Book Study groups that you may like:
An AMAZING resource is this Immigration Walk-Through provided by Scholastic. It has great PICTURES and AUDIO clips which are sometimes harder to find in other resources. There is A LOT of things in this resource so you will need to pick and choose what you have students complete/read. I have used this just as a side resource on my webpage for kids to explore on their own.
If you do only ONE thing with this resource I really like the stories of REAL kids who are immigrants on the 2nd tab. You could easily assign students to read one of these and summarize the information as a station activity or homework.
Also a great website is this Choose Your Own Adventure type digital experience. You can choose from several people as they take their journey and you make decisions along the way!
To wrap up Immigration or to get a great overview if this is all you have time for, I recommend this Coming to America Digital Escape Room. This would be for older kids that can read independently and also use clues and critical thinking to solve puzzles. You can easily break this Escape Room into different parts for various days if needed. Great for those distance learning options or assigning to students easily as a NO PREP option.
If you want to try a resource here is a FREE sample of If Your Name Was Changed At Ellis Island Workbook. That way you can see the resources and if it will work for your classroom. This is a PRINT and Digital Easel Resource for you!
I love this unit so much! I have SO many things we do. I would love to hear any ideas or resources you use! Happy MLK!
