Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Immigration

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

6

Overview

In this lesson plan, students investigate the experiences of immigrants in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After reviewing evidence, they develop an argument to decide if the American Dream came true for the immigrants who came to New York. Click the Download PDF or DOC to access the following additional resources:

  • Several photographs of immigrants at home and work.
  • Emma Lazarus' poem, The New Colossus.
  • A Scholastic video: Virtual Field trip to Ellis Island.
  • A link to an interactive website exploring Ellis Island.
  • A link to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum where students can construct an interactive immigrant character.
    Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 6

    SS10.6.2

    Describe reform movements and changing social conditions during the Progressive Era in the United States.

    Unpacked Content

    UP:SS10.6.2

    Vocabulary

    • immigrants
    • reforms
    • movements
    • 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 21st amendments origin
    • Progressive Movement
    • Populists
    • temperance
    • trustbuster
    • muckraker
    • repeal
    • Homestead Act
    • child labor
    • corporation
    • civil rights
    • Ellis Island
    • Angel Island
    • workman's compensation
    • Civil Rights Movement
    • NAACP

    Knowledge

    Students will know:
    • Immigrant experiences at Ellis Island and Angel Island. Workplace reforms that took place during the Progressive Era (i.e., 8 hour work day, child labor laws, and workman compensation laws).
    • Key leaders of the Progressive Era that contributed to reforms in the United States (Theodore Roosevelt-National Parks System, Jane Adams-Hull House, Clara Barton-American Red Cross, Julia Tutwiler-Education/Prison Reform).
    • Social reforms of the Progressive Movement.
    • The early goals of the Civil Rights Movement and the purpose of the NAACP and other early civil rights organizations.
    • Provisions of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-first Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

    Skills

    Students are able to:
    • Identify impacts of historical events.
    • Describe historical movements by comparing and contrasting.

    Understanding

    Students understand that:
    • There were causes and the effects, both immediate and lasting, of various reform movements pertaining to immigration, labor, political, social, and constitutional amendments during the Progressive Era in the United States.
    Link to Resource

    CR Resource Type

    Lesson/Unit Plan

    Resource Provider

    College Career & Civic Life (C3)
    Accessibility
    License

    License Type

    Custom
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