A Postcard From a New World: Immigration & Urbanization

Learning Resource Type

Learning Activity

Subject Area

Social Studies

Grade(s)

6

Overview

Students will participate in an interactive website activity from the Tenement Museum in New York City. Then, students will create a postcard describing the experiences of immigrants in the United States in the early 1900s. 

This resource was created as a part of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

Phase

During/Explore/Explain
After/Explain/Elaborate
Social Studies (2010) Grade(s): 6

SS10.6.2

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

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.

Learning Objectives

Students will describe the experiences of new immigrants to life in the United States, with a focus on the experiences immigrants had while traveling through Ellis Island.

Activity Details

1. Each student will need a copy of this Google Doc: Immigration & Urbanization Activity. The teacher can share this digitally or make a paper copy for each student.

2. The students will visit this website using a digital device: From Ellis Island to Orchard Street with Victoria Confino. Be sure to allow Flash player. Students can use headphones or earbuds to hear the audio commentary provided by the website. 

3. As students participate in the interactive website, students should take notes on the Google Doc provided (page 1). Tell students their notes will help them complete their final postcard product. 

4. Review page 2 of the Google Doc with students. This provides specific directions for the after activity, creating a postcard that describes the experiences of immigrants. 

5. The teacher will share the postcard template with students. The students will create their postcard according to the directions provided on the Google Doc. The students can use images from the internet, or the teacher can require students to illustrate the postcard by hand. Alternatively, the entire postcard can be created by hand, rather than using the digital template. 

Assessment Strategies

The teacher will assess the during activity, the interactive website, by viewing students' notes. The teacher should ensure that students completed the entire activity and took sufficient notes regarding the immigrant experience. 

The teacher will assess the after activity, the postcard, by using the provided checklist on page 2 of the Google Doc. The teacher can assign point values to each criterion of the checklist if desired. 

Background / Preparation

This activity can be done completely digitally by sharing the links with students and requiring all products to be completed online. Alternatively, the teacher can print the Google Doc and postcard template and have students complete these items by hand. 

The students will need access to a digital device with internet access, in order to complete the interactive website activity. It is preferable for students to have headphones or earbuds to listen to the provided audio. 

The interactive website allows students to create a printable passport. Students can print the passport if printers are available. As another option, the students can recreate the passport shown in the activity on a piece of paper. 

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