Ellis Island Unit Grade 5 ELD LESSON 1 Anticipatory Set and Building Background Activity: Audio piece (no visuals) Listen to Neil Diamond s song America. (located on the Document Locker, Ellis Island file) Think-Pair-Share Dialogue Sheet Prompt: How does the song make you feel? Does it remind you of anything? Please describe. Students may listen to the song more than once. They may follow-along with the lyrics as they listen after the first time. In a later lesson students will re-read the lyrics and analyze the song. (save lyrics for LESSON 9) LESSON 2 Vocabulary Study Connecting words Word Families worksheet [located on the Document Locker Ellis Island Resources document] Introduce vocabulary: immigrate, migrate Today s vocabulary word is to immigrate. Listen: to immigrate, to immigrate. Now let s say it together, to immigrate. immigrate verb Say it: im mi grat e Write it: Write it again: Meaning: to move in to a country one is not from, to stay and live permanently in the Say it: Listen as I say it in syllables. Point to the stressed syllable that I said louder. Now repeat it and tap out the syllables. Synonym Study migrate to remain, to stay Antonym: To emigrate List the following words on the board: migrate, migration, immigrate, emigrate. Talk with the students about how these words are pronounced (have them repeat each word several times), what the words mean and how they are related. To IMMIGRATE comes from the root word: migrate. To migrate means to move from a country or region to another. The movement of people or animals from one region to another is called migration. Have you studied about migration before? If to migrate means to move from one place to another, what do you think to immigrate means? Partner Share: Are you an immigrant? Why or why not? Are your parents immigrants? Why or Why not? Choosing the right word depends on perspective: 1
If we only pay attention to people or animals moving from one region to another and we don t care about national borders, we can say: People (or animals) migrate. Hawks migrate to South America and back to California. Note how using the word to migrate focuses on the movement and is not specific to staying in any one place. [on the handout point to the circular or back and forth movement on the Word Families document.] However, if we are paying attention to people coming into another country to stay, we would say, for example: Italians immigrated to the United States. IMMIGRATE Prefix: im Root word: migrate In this case, the prefix im- means in [On handout, point to arrows pointing into U.S.] The noun is immigration. Look at the word families and maps and write your own sentence using the verb to immigrate. My family immigrated to from. Vocabulary word: EMIGRATE Prefix: e- (out of) There s another word in this family: to emigrate from. Can you guess what it means? The prefix e- means out of, so it means to leave one s country and move to another. For example: The Irish emigrated from Ireland because people were starving to death due to the potato famine. Look at the word families and maps. In the box, draw a map of any given place with arrows showing what emigrate looks like. Write your own sentence using the verb to emigrate. (get out of) People emigrated from to. 2
LESSON 3 (may take more than one day) Activity: Push Pull Factors Worksheet (2 pages) located in the Ellis Island Resources document. Teacher introduces concepts of push and pull factors in immigration: A push factor is a negative condition that makes people want to leave. What were some push factors we identified together? A pull factor is a condition that attracts people to come to a particular location. Brainstorm: Now let s try to identify and sort push and pull factors. [located on the Document Locker in the Ellis Island Resources document] Examples of push and pull factors: Think-Pair-Share Dialogue Sheet Prompt: Why would anyone leave their homes to move to another country? And how do they decide where to go? Working individually and then in pairs each student records their thoughts and conversations on the Think Pair Share dialogue sheet. Have partners share with whole group. LESSON 4 Author s Purpose: PURPOSE, PURPOSE WHAT S THE AUTHOR S PURPOSE? Using the Ellis Island text, complete the top half of the worksheet Before Reading. ELD Book Ellis Island pp2-5 Introduce Ellis Island as U.S. immigration station between 1892 and 1954. Read pages 2-4. ELD TE Access content (TE pp51 for discussion questions for pages 2-4 only) Activity: Think-Pair-Share Dialogue Sheet Have student study the Information Graphic on pg 5 with a partner independently without class discussion. 3
Prompt: What can you conclude from the information graphic on page 5? Support your ideas with evidence. Working individually and then in pairs each student records their thoughts and conversation on the Think- Pair-Share Dialogue sheet. Have partners share with whole group. *Keep TPS dialogue sheet for Lesson 10. For the teacher: Other Information that can be inferred from the information graphic on page 5: Why is this information presented in a pie chart? [Easy to read.] Where did most immigrants come from? [Italy] What country did the second largest group of immigrants come from? [Russia] LESSON 5 (This lesson may take several days.) Audio: Ellis Island Oral History 028 Like sheep Never had a sandwich before. (Located in the Document Locker in Ellis Island file) Have a short discussion. Video: Introduction to Ellis Island Thomas Edison video circa 1906 (Located in the Document Locker in the Ellis Island file) [Video shows crowds of immigrants carrying their belongings after being processed at Ellis Island and lining up to ferry to shore.] READ Chapter 2: New York Harbor pg 8-11. (skip pages 6&7) ELD TE Access Content TE page 55 Activity: Caption Writing (Located in the Document Locker in the Ellis Island file) Group students in pairs or small group of 3 or 4. Have students select one photo to complete the Photo Response and Caption Writing worksheets. Have each group share their photo and caption for the photo. LESSON 6 (The following 2 readings are included in the Ellis Resource Document on the Doc Locker) Celia Adler s account Read: Celia Adler, Russia, arrived in 1914, age 12. Teacher says: Now you are going to read the real-life account of an immigrant who came through Ellis Island in 1914. Her name was Celia Adler. Read carefully, discuss with your partner and be ready to share with the class your responses. How old was she? And where did she immigrate from? What surprised her when she arrived? What can you infer about the town where she lived in Russia? What did Celia Adler bring with her? Why did she only bring a little basket of things with her? Partners share with class. Have students apply vocabulary in their responses. Example: Celia Adler immigrated to LESSON 7 Birgitta Hedman Fitcher s account 4
Teacher says: Now you are going to read about Birgitta Hedman Fitcher who arrived at Ellis Island in 1924. Read carefully, discuss with your partner and be ready to share your responses with the class. How old was Birgitta when she came to the U.S.? How old were you and your family? Where did Birgitta immigrated from? Birgitta says that her mother s shoes were important. Why? Partners share with class. Have students apply vocabulary in their responses. Example: Birgitta Hedman Fitcher immigrated to LESSON 8 READ ELD Book Ellis Chapter 3 pg 12-15 ELD TE Access content TE pg 55 California connection/4 th grade background knowledge: What evidence from the text explains why Ellis Island was called the Golden Doors. Ask/Share with students: Have you heard of the Golden Gate? The Golden Gate Bridge? Why do you think it got that name? In fourth grade, we learned that Gold was discovered in California on January 24 of 1848, by James Marshall at Sutter s Mill in Coloma. The news spread quickly and by 1849 people were rushing from Oregon, Hawaii, Mexico, Central and South America, with the hopes of getting rich. The gold-seekers were called forty-niners and faced many hardships on their trips to the west. Some had heard that in California (or in the United States), the streets were paved with gold. The immigration station that people arriving by ship on the west coast had to go through was Angel Island. From 1910 to 1940, the Angel Island Immigration Station processed approximately 1 million Asian immigrants entering into the US, leading to it sometimes being referred to as "The Ellis Island of the West". LESSON 9 Review/ expand Listen to Neil Diamond s America once again. Part 1 Activity: America by Neil Diamond song lyrics from LESSON 1. This time, project picture of passengers on ship, celebrating arriving in NY located on the page 8 of this document. Text Analysis: Whole class guided/annotated activity. Listen to / Read lines one or two at a time Have students help explain word meaning and imagery 5
Some ideas: Far (where could they be coming from?} Without a home but not without a star (meaning) Free (discuss why) Hang on to a dream (refers to the American Dream) How did you come? Why not looking back again? Why are they travelling light? What did you bring when you came? Eye of the storm? What were the/you travelling conditions? Do you think they were first, second class or steerage (3 rd ) What could Freedom s light burning warm refer to? Got a dream to take them there they come to share What are your dreams in America? How would you describe the immigrants? (personality traits) How are they feeling? Pair/Share Prompt/Wrap-up revised impression of song America: Now that you are listening to the song again: How does it make you feel? Do you have a different idea about the story and the details? Please describe. BACKGROUND ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND SONG: In a nutshell: - Neil Diamond comes from a family of immigrants. - His song America is a positive and inspiring account of immigration.. - The song s beat, melody, musical arrangement and vocal are a positive way to celebrate and honor our country s history of immigration. Neil Leslie Diamond was born in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, New York City, on January 24, 1941. His father, Akeeba "Kieve" Diamond, was a dry-goods merchant. Both he and wife Rose were Jewish immigrants from Poland. The theme of America is a positive interpretation of the history of immigration to the United States, both during the early 1900s and today. Combining Diamond's typically powerful melody, dynamic arrangement, and bombastic vocal, it ends with an interpolation of the traditional patriotic song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee". In Diamond's concerts, the song is a very popular number both home and abroad, with a large United States flag often displayed from the rafters on cue to the lyric, "Every time that flag's unfurled / They're coming to America." The song has been used in a number of contexts, including in promotion of the 1996 Olympics. Diamond also sang it at the centennial rededication of the Statue of Liberty. 6
LESSON 10 Review: 1. Use Retell Cards to retell information presented in this unit. 2. *Have partners review the Think and Share columns from their previous T-P-S dialogue sheets and other worksheet from the unit of study. Author s Purpose: PURPOSE, PURPOSE WHAT S THE AUTHOR S PURPOSE? complete the second half of the worksheet After Reading. Independent Writing: Prompt: Many people immigrated to United States. What do you think people were thinking about and how were they feeling when they arrived at Ellis Island? Support your opinion with evidence from the materials we have studied. Writing Proofread/Revise 1. Students finish first draft independently 2. Students read their work orally with a partner and proofread. 3. Students edit and revise their work. LESSON 11 Oral Presentation Students read writing orally to small groups. Students use Oral Presentation Worksheet for Presenting Writing Orally. (See Oral Presentation lesson for presenting writing orally in Pacing Guide.) 7
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