Coming to the U.S.A.

Objectives

• Students will use the Internet to research the history of immigration in the United States.
• Students will learn about who came to America during different time periods, and why.
• Students will work in groups to write summaries of their research, and report their findings to the class.

Description

Ellisisland.org is a site written and maintained by the Ellis Island Foundation. It features stories of immigrants from different ethnic backgrounds, and histories of immigration in the United States.

Suggested Activities

• Have students click on Genealogy and then on Family Histories. They should choose a person's story that interests them, and write a short summary of the discoveries that person made in his or her ancestry search.

Level Activities

• Have students connect to http://www.pbs.org/wnet/newyork/laic/episode4/activity4/activity4.html. There, they will read more about how America shapes immigrants• and, more importantly, how immigrants shape America. Have students:
complete the activites outlined in the 2A and 3A sections on the site.
complete the activities outlined in the 2B and 3B sections on the site.
complete the 2A and 3A activities, and work with a group to create a map of where their surveyed immigrants came from.