Members: Nancy Youngbauer and Mia Beesley

Immigration

Grade Level: 4th grade

Learning Goals:

All Iowans have ancestors who immigrated to Iowa from other parts of the United States or the world (although American Indians came a few thousand years before the rest.)

People immigrated to Iowa for many reasons, including 'push-pull factors' and events related to World War I.

Numerous ethnic settlements with unique customs and traditions were started in Iowa. Several festivals featuring the cultural traditions of these ethnic groups are held annually across the state.

Today Iowa continues to be a home for immigrants from all over the world, including newcomers from Bosnia, the Sudan, and additional immigrants from Mexico.

Key Terms:

 Immigration  Ancestors  Customs and traditions  Ethnic groups  Festivals  Push-pull  Ellis Island  Culture  Immigrant Standards:

Iowa History Benchmarks 8. Settlers from Many Lands (indicators are being used as our learning goals; see above)

North Scott Standards and Benchmarks – 4 th Grade Social Studies http://www.north-scott.k12.ia.us/curriculum/4ss.html

Standard 1 – Citizenship

Applies the principles and skills of responsible participation to the benefit of the community, nation, and world. 1.4.1 Understands the importance of the diverse cultural backgrounds of immigrants in the development of American culture.

Standard 3 - Time and Change

Understands the relevance of chronological relationships and patterns and knows how to analyze them. 3.4.4 Understands the significance of the movement of people and goods from place to place within our country.

Standard 5 – Culture

Understands that groups and cultural influences contribute to conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among individuals, groups, and institutions.

5.4.7 Knows that diversity exists within regions of our country.

Iowa Teaching Standards: http://www.sai-iowa.org/teachingstds.html

4. Uses strategies to deliver instruction that meets the multiple learning needs of students.

5. Uses a variety of methods to monitor student learning.

7. Engages in professional growth. Lesson Plans:

Activity #1

Title: Introduction and Pre Narrative

Objective: Students will be introduced to the concept of immigration.

Materials: United Streaming website (see library media specialist for assistance)

Procedures:

1. Show students a picture of the Statue of Liberty and ask them to explain why this is an important symbol for our country. 2. Show video clip “Reasons for Immigration” from the video, Immigration to the United States available from United Streaming website. 3. Give students the list of “Key Terms” for this unit and have them write a narrative paragraph using each term.

Key Terms:

 Immigration  Ancestors  Customs and traditions  Ethnic groups  Festivals  Push-pull  Ellis Island  Culture  Immigrant

Assessment: This gives teachers a baseline of what the students know at the very beginning of the unit about immigration and can be used to compare with what they have learned by the end of the unit when they complete the post narrative assignment. Activity #2

Title: Push and Pull Factors of Immigration

Objective: Students will understand that people immigrated to Iowa for many reasons, including 'push-pull factors' and events related to World War I.

Materials: http://campsilos.org/excursions/grout/one/act2.htm

Procedures:

1. Read the web page aloud together as a class using the LCD projector and discuss. 2. Have each student, at their own computer, click on the “complete this chart” link. Do the first one together, then have students complete the rest on their own.

Assessment: Program will automatically correct students’ incorrect responses. Teacher should be observing as the students are working. Activity #3

Title: Explore Ellis Island

Materials: http://www.campsilos.org/excursions/grout/one/act3.htm

Objectives: Students will understand that all Iowans have ancestors who immigrated to Iowa from other parts of the US or the world. Students will understand that people immigrated to Iowa for many reasons, including push-pull factors and events related to WWI.

Procedures: 1. Using the LCD projector, view the Tour of Ellis Island from Step 1 in Excursion (website above). It might be nice to give the students a copy of the map from the first page. 2. Summarize what happens at each stop. 3. Go to Step 2 in Excursion. Together as a class look at all the pictures on the LCD first. If students have access to the laptops, then use those to look at a picture they choose. If not, print copies of the pictures for the students to choose. 4. When the students have chosen a picture have them pick one of the people in the picture to be. Write about what your hopes might be about this new home, your worries, what you might have brought with you, what did you have to leave behind, and anything else you want to include.

Assessment:  Informal assessment that the student is beginning to develop some empathy for the immigrants. Activity #4

Title: A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures (Emigrants Coming to the Land of Promise)

Objective: Students will understand that all Iowans have ancestors who immigrated to Iowa from other parts of the United States or the world.

Materials: http://campsilos.org/excursions/grout/one/act4.htm

Procedures:

1. Using the LCD projector, show the photo from the webpage and answer the “Key Observation Questions” together as a class. 2. Have each student, at their own computer, choose one of the people in the photo. Then answer the questions, on paper, that begin with the 5 “W’s” about that person. 3. As an extension, students can make up answers to their own questions. 4. Share some of their questions and answers. Compare the questions/answers that two or more students wrote for the same person.

Assessment: Check papers for understanding of what it was like to be an immigrant. Activity #5

Title: Voices of the Past

Materials: http://www.campsilos.org/excursions/grout/one/act6.htm copies of the graphic organizer for each student large copy of the graphic organizer to record class results

Procedures:

1. Let the students pick which ethnic background they want to read. Make sure that all six have representatives from the class. 2. Have the students read their paragraphs and fill in the graphic organizer. If they finish early, they could be given the option to use headphones to listen to the entries that are recorded in the different languages. 3. When all are finished, have them get in groups with the other students who chose the same. Share and choose someone to be the reporter to the class. 4. Call class back together and record information on class graphic organizer. Discuss the differences and similarities.

Assessment:  Students turn in their individual copies of the graphic organizer to insure that they did their own work. Assessment will also be in the class graphic organizer and contributions to the discussion. Activity #6

Title: Interview an Immigrant

Objectives: Students will understand that today Iowa continues to be a home for immigrants from all over the world.

Materials: http://campsilos.org/excursions/grout/one/act10.htm People from the community that have immigrated to the United States

Procedures:

1. Using the LCD projector, read together as a class, the web page listed above. 2. Explain to the class that instead of each student finding someone to interview, we will find two or more recent immigrants from our community to interview together. 3. As a class, create a list of questions that we would like to ask the immigrants, using the ideas on the web page as a guide. 4. Invite the immigrants to come to our school and participate in our panel discussion/interview.

Assessment: Students will write a thank you note to one of the immigrants telling them the most interesting thing they learned from the visit. They also could write in their journals about what they learned. Activity #7

Title: Iowa Ethnic Festival Research

Materials: List of festivals with locations Map of Iowa with major cities Atlas Copies of graphic organizer (below) World Book online Culturegrams Non-fiction books Yahooligans/ Directory/ Countries Other websites if needed Kid Pix Studio (software) Presentation rubric United Streaming video segment, “Culture,” from Immigration to the United States (see your library media specialist for assistance)

Objectives: Students will understand that numerous ethnic settlements with unique customs and traditions were started in Iowa and that several festivals featuring the cultural traditions of these ethnic groups are held annually across the state.

Procedures: 1. Watch the video segment, “Culture,” from the Immigration to the United States video available for download from United Streaming (see your library media specialist for assistance). 2. Using the teacher-provided list of Iowa’s cultural festivals and festival locations, students will label at least five different festivals on their Iowa maps. 3. Students will choose one of the countries represented and research its traditions, customs and foods. 4. Using their research, students will plan their own festival, including their main events and food. 5. To share their research students can choose to create a commercial, a poster or a Kid Pix slide show.

Assessment:  Teacher will check the festivals map to make sure students were able to locate at least five of the festivals.  Iowa Ethnic Festival Research note sheet  Checklist for presentation Iowa Ethnic Festival Research

Resources: World Book Online http://www.worldbookonline.com Culturegrams Non-fiction books Websites: start with Yahooligans and choose Countries in the directory.

Country Name Topic Details Traditions and customs of country

Main events of your festival

Foods that would be at your festival Name of Festival Town Ethnic Group Contact Info Tulip Festival Pella Dutch www.pellatuliptime.com/tulip- time Historical Society 641- 628-2409 [email protected] Cinco de Mayo Belmond Mexican Mexican Festival Croatian Festival Centerville Croatian Greek Food Fair Des Moines Greek St. Patrick’s Emmetsburg Irish 712-852-4326 Celebration Italian-American Oelwein Italian Heritage Day National St. Donatus Luxembourg Luxembourg Day Scandinavian Story City Scandinavian 515-733-4214 Days [email protected] www.storycity.net Meskwaki Pow Tama Native Wow American Nordic Festival Decorah Nordic 800-382-FEST www.nordicfest.com Oktober Fest Amanas German 800-579-2294 www.amanacolonies.com

Places of Nativity for Foreign Born Residents of Iowa—Census of 1870

Total State Population – 1,194,020 Total foreign Born Population – 204,692 Austria 2, 691 Holland 4,513 Bohemia 6,765 Ireland 40,124 British 17,907 Norway 17,554 America 2,827 Sweden 10,796 Denmark 3,130 Switzerland 3,937 France 66,162 Other 2,967 Germany 25,318 Great Britain

Table from Camp Silos Excursions Immigration Ethnic Festival Checklist

Student Name______

Country ______

Student Teacher Completed research page List of resources used Presentation includes information about: traditions, customs, foods Used creativity in presentation Activity #8

Title: Post Narrative and Conclusion

Procedure:

1. Give students the list of “Key Terms” for this unit and have them write a narrative paragraph using each term.

Key Terms:

Immigration Ancestors Customs and traditions Ethnic groups Festivals Push-pull Ellis Island Culture Immigrant

2. Share in small groups and discuss.

Assessment: Teacher: Certain amount of points earned for each term accurately used or described. Student: Compare what was written on the pre unit narrative and the post unit narrative. What did you learn? Immigration Book List (these books were all available at Bettendorf Public Library)

Fiction

Letters from Rifka (Hesse)  Refused passage in 1919 because she has ringworm, a young Jewish girl from Russia battles supercilious officials and yards of red tape before she is finally reunited with her family in America. (School Library Journal) Annie Quinn in America (Schneider)  There's no debate when Annie and her brother get a chance to leave famine-ravaged Ireland in 1847 to live with their sister Bridget in New York. The youngsters brave the perilous journey and arrive at the bustling city ready to start anew. Bridget finds a place for them on the domestic staff of the Fairchild household, where she works as a maid, and the siblings look forward to the day when they can bring over the rest of the family. Then reality intervenes: a conniving thief who stole the children's baggage at dockside returns to menace them, and the household staff takes advantage of the younger Quinns, unbeknownst to both Bridget and the Fairchilds. (* Booklist) Nory Ryan’s Song (Giff)  Life is hard for poor Irish potato farmers, but 12-year-old Nory Ryan and her family have always scraped by... until one morning, Nory wakes to the foul, rotting smell of diseased potatoes dying in the fields. And just like that, all their hopes for the harvest--for this year and next--are dashed. Hunger sets in quickly. The beaches are stripped of edible seaweed, the shore is emptied of fish, desperate souls even chew on grass for the nourishment. As her community falls apart, Nory scrambles to find food for her family. Meanwhile, the specter of America lurks, where, the word is, no one is ever hungry, and horses carry milk in huge cans down cobblestone streets. (Amazon) Maggie’s Door (Giff)  416 Smith Street, Brooklyn, America: this is the ultimate goal for Nory Ryan as she flees her famine-ridden home in mid-1800s Ireland. One by one, her family has departed for a new life in America; Nory is the last to go. Keeping her sister Maggie’s address close to her heart, Nory embarks on the perilous, heart-breaking journey to Galway and onward. Meanwhile, her friend Sean Red Mallon is just a few days ahead, traveling with his mother and Nory’s little brother, Patch, with the same destination in mind. Sequel to Nory Ryan’s Song.(Amazon) The Orphan of Ellis Island (Woodruff)  Dominic, a lonely orphan boy, is accidentally left behind on a fifth-grade school trip to Ellis Island. Wandering at night through the museum, he listens to the narratives of immigrants in the exhibit and is shocked when one of the voices addresses him, telling him about life in Italy. Exhausted, Dominic falls asleep, and finds himself transported to the same village the narrator was telling him about, a place in southern Italy, where the immigrant and his two brothers teach Dominic what it's truly like to be hungry and poor. They accept Dominic as a member of their little family, and eventually he ends up immigrating to America with them. (Booklist) Land of Hope (Nixon)  Rebekah, 15, and her family leave their shtetl in Russia for the U. S., seeking safety from the random violence against Jews. On the ship she meets two girls, one Irish and one Swedish, representing two other major groups of immigrants in the early 1900s. Rebekah and her friends talk about the opportunities for women in their new country, a theme that reappears throughout the story. Interwoven is the beginning of a romance that will surely develop in later books. (School Library Journal) Silver Days (Levitin)  This sequel to Levitin's Journey to America (Aladdin, 1986) , takes up exactly where the earlier book ended--in 1940, with the family reunited in New York City. In a first-person narration, Lisa, the middle daughter, tells the story of their "silver days" from 1940 to 1943, conveying the strength and spirit that enabled the family to not only survive being uprooted from their comfortable home in Germany, but also to make a new life for themselves. Much of the humor in the book comes from Lisa's father, a hard-working, energetic, and optimistic man. The girls' mother is a strong- willed woman who is almost undone by the death of her mother, who chose to stay in Germany. Lisa is also strongly influenced by her beautiful and intelligent older sister and a lively, sensitive younger sister. A move to California leads to more disruption but ultimately results in more economic security and a chance for Lisa to study dance seriously again. (School Library Journal) I Be Somebody (Hadley)  The book "I Be Somebody" written by Hadley Irwin is about a 9 year old boy who has to deal with racial discrimination. His name is Rap. Rap lives with his Aunt Spicy. Times were hard where they lived, because of segregation and the depression. Then they heard about a place called Athabasca, Canada, in church. Things weren't bad there. So then they decided to move there to get away from it all. (Amazon: child review) Ellis Island Days (Weiss)  She may be just a doll, but she has lived in many places and seen incredible things. Hitty travels to Italy in style with a spoiled little rich girl, but soon falls into the hands of Fiorella Rossi, a kind girl whose poor family longs to reach America. Will the Rossis survive of their difficult journey? (Amazon) Dear America Series/ My Name is America Series-

Journal of Otto Peltonen, A Finnish Immigrant (Durbin)  Teenager Otto Peltonen uses his journal to describe life in a Minnesota mining town at the start of the last century. Accompanied by his mother and two sisters, Otto survives a horrendous journey across the Atlantic to join his father in America, where he anticipates idyllic opulence. Instead he is faced with life in a shantytown where the division by wealth looms ominously before him. As Otto changes from a dedicated student to a labor-worn miner, his parents go through their own fascinating battles, which add dimension to the plot: Otto's father joins a miners' strike against United States Steel, the first billion-dollar industry in U.S. history; Otto's mother becomes a vigilant suffragette. (Booklist) A Coal Miner’s Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska (Bartoletti)  Anetka, a resourceful Polish girl, is ordered by her father to come to America and marry a man she has never met. At 14, she becomes a miner's wife and the stepmother of three young daughters. The hardships and dangers of life in a mining camp, recorded in diary format, are balanced by the tenderness, friendship, and romance touching Anetka's life. (School Library Journal) One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping: The Diary of Julie Weiss, Vienna, Austria to New York, 1938 (Denenberg)  Follow 13-year-old Julie Weiss through the pivotal year 1938, when the Nazis invade Austria. Julie's father is a beloved doctor in Vienna, her mother a social butterfly, her brother a Zionist. Although Julie knows she is Jewish it doesn't mean much to her until the Nazis come, and the Jewish population is terrorized; Julie's mother commits suicide rather than endure the coming horror. Dr. Weiss has had the foresight to give Julie English lessons and gets her to an aunt in New York. Here the story takes on a fairy-tale quality. Julie's aunt is a famous stage actress, and within a few short months Julie is appearing on the stage with her, to much acclaim. (Booklist) Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York city, 1903 (Lasky)  Zipporah Feldman, a 12-year-old Jewish immigrant from Russia, uses diary entries to chronicle her family's activities as they acclimate to life on New York City's Lower East Side. She absorbs the freedom of America, wanting to share her enthusiasm with her parents, encouraging her father to pursue his love of music and trying to persuade her mother to shed some of her strict religious ways. The story's historical significance is evident in the Feldman's arrival at Ellis Island and the subsequent procedures immigrants had to endure, and in the description of the factory fire in which Zipporah's friend dies, which is based on the famous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory of 1911. (School Library Journal) Picture Books

When Jessie Came Across the Sea (Hest)  Jessie and her grandmother live in an Eastern European shtetel where, one day, the Rabbi informs the villagers that his brother has died and left him one ticket to "the promised land." The rabbi feels he cannot leave his people and decides to give the ticket to 13-year-old Jessie. It's almost too much for Jessie and her grandmother to bear, though both believe it is for the best. In America, Jessie follows her grandmother's trade and becomes a dressmaker. She works for three years until she has enough saved to purchase another ticket--for her grandmother. (Booklist) Lights for Gita (Gilmore)  An immigrant child from India celebrates the Hindu holiday of Divali for the first time in her new home. An introductory note describes the holiday as a festival of lights celebrated with sweets, parties, storytelling, and fireworks. In the November gloom of her new apartment, Gita longs for her extended family in New Delhi and the warmth she's left behind. She cries when an ice storm knocks out the power in all the buildings on her street; but with her parents and her best friend, she lights the diyas for the festival, and she comes to see that the lights of Divali can beat the darkness outside and the sadness within. (Booklist) I Hate English! (Levine)  When her family moves to New York from Hong Kong, Mei Mei finds it difficult to adjust to school and learn the alien sounds of English. (Card catalog description) An Ellis Island Christmas (Leighton)  Papa has already left Poland, and Krysia longs to see him again. "First we must cross the ocean to get to Ellis Island in America," says Mama. "That’s where Papa is waiting for us." Saying goodbye to her home is hard, and the ocean voyage is long and stormy, but finally, on Christmas Eve, Krysia sees the Statue of Liberty! (Amazon) A Picnic in October (Bunting)  Every year on October 28th, Tony's extended family packs a picnic, lawn chairs, blankets, and a birthday cake, and heads to the Statue of Liberty to celebrate Lady Liberty's "birthday." Despite Tony's annual embarrassment, Grandma's need to express her emotions over her long- ago acceptance by her chosen country is paramount, and the family respects that. This year, a chance encounter with a family of new emigres opens Tony's eyes to just what the statue symbolizes, and he joins openly in the final toast, proud and unashamed. (School Library Journal) Molly’s Pilgrim (Cohen)  A Russian immigrant girl adjusts to the American celebrations of Thanksgiving and birthdays, respectively. (Publishers Weekly) Nonfiction

Immigrant Children (Whitman)  Describes the flood of immigration into the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, focusing on the experiences of the youngest immigrants, both on their journeys and in their new country. (Card catalog description) Coming to America: The Story of Immigration (Maestro)  An introductory history of immigration from thousands of years ago through the present, focusing on why different groups of people came to America and how they became a part of our national heritage. Maestro points out that when Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas, millions of people were already living on these continents. Different perspectives are incorporated into the text, including the harsh treatment Indians received and the forced immigration of Africans. The various laws that the U. S. has adopted to control immigration are explained. A brief history of Ellis Island is included. The colorful, exuberant watercolors show men, women, and children of all nationalities. Most of the scenes are hopeful or festive, although one illustration of a crying child being held back from a relative who was rejected at Ellis Island is upsetting. A table of dates provides a quick summary of immigration highlights. (School Library Journal) I Was Dreaming to Come to America: Memories from the Ellis Island Oral History Project (Lawlor)  Begun in 1975, the Ellis Island Oral History Project is an informal collection of interviews with individuals who immigrated to the U.S. through Ellis Island. Short selections, each 1 or 2 paragraphs long, from 15 of those interviews are reprinted here. The subjects were for the most part children when they arrived in the period 1900-1925. One was future Israeli leader Golda Meir. Many of the selections describe the facility itself; others talk of family and feelings. Opposite each remembrance is a striking, childlike, hand-painted collage; both are superimposed on a beige-toned reproduction of the collage picture. (School Library Journal) Immigrants (Sandler)  Focusing on the period 1870-1920, this new entry in the Library of Congress Book series is a collection of photographs and illustrations of the immigration experience loosely tied together by a general text. Quotes from immigrants from different countries and photos of the Statue of Liberty (in pieces), Ellis Island, and the urban centers where many of the immigrants began life in America combine to give an idea of what life was like. Sandler also includes brief discussions of slavery and of immigration patterns today. The conclusion emphasizes cultural diversity as our greatest strength. (Booklist) Making a New Home in America (Rosenberg)  Text and photographs present the stories of five children who have come to the United States as immigrants or resident aliens from Japan, Cuba, India, Guyana, and Vietnam. (Card catalog description) Ellis Island (Owens)  Describes the historical significance and recent restoration of Ellis Island, which served as a point of entrance for millions of immigrants to the United States. (Card catalog description) Life at Ellis Island (Isaacs)  Double-page spreads describe not only the Ellis Island experience during the peak immigration years 1892-1924, but also why people left their homelands, where they came from, their voyages, and what they did after gaining entry to the U.S. Abundant use is made of sometimes-grainy period photographs and reproductions as well as current-day renderings of how things looked in the early 20th century. (School Library Journal) The Story of Ellis Island (Stein)  Describes the experiences of the many immigrants who sought entry to the United States at the immigration station on Ellis Island, New York, before it closed in 1954. (Card catalog description) If Your Name was Changed at Ellis Island (Levine)  Despite the book's somewhat misleading title (only two pages are devoted to the practice of changing names), Levine offers a comprehensive, well organized discussion of the immigration procedures followed at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1914. One- or two-page chapters offer concise answers to questions ("What did people bring with them?'; "What happened if you were detained?"; "How did people learn English?"), enabling youngsters to digest easily a significant amount of information. Facts about the many rigorous routines and tests (medical, legal, literacy) that new arrivals endured are peppered with the intriguing personal reminiscences of individuals who lived through them. (Publishers Weekley) Where Did Your Family Come From? A Book about Immigrants (Berger)  Explains immigration beginning with long ago but concentrating on the lives of four young immigrants today; early reader format. (Card catalog description)