Free Unit Study: US Immigration & the Statue of Liberty

Unit Study of United States Immigration 

We introduced our study with a beautifully illustrated book
Coming To America by Betsy Maestro

"From the first nomadic groups, to the colonial settlers, to the Africans forced into slavery, to those seeking refuge from throughout the world, the character of our nation was forged by immigrants as each group enriched the diversity of our nation. Coming To America presents the evolving immigration history of the United States to the primary grade student, exploring the factors that brought each group to America as well as their impact on the development of our nation. Vivid illustrations by Susannah Ryan bring the immigration experience to life and will appeal to primary grade students. The chronology of immigration, notes on immigration today, and other interesting facts included in the back of the book will enhance a young child's understanding of the subject." - By American Immigration Council's Community Education Center

Unit Objectives:

Explain why people immigrated to the United States in the nineteenth century.

Summarize the difficulties immigrants faced in leaving their homes and making a new life in America. Discover and clarify the real meaning & significance behind the Statue of Liberty.

ELLIS ISLAND

We took a virtual tour of Ellis Island. There are two choices a 40 minute video or 10 pages with limited audio and short clips. We chose the short clips so that we could take time to discuss between sections. This allowed the children to explore the topic and answer the following questions:

What is an immigrant? Why do people leave their home countries to make a new home in America?

Vocabulary:

Terms	Definitions
Immigrate	To move permanently to a new country
Emigrate	To leave one's country of residence for a new one
Push Factor	A factor that causes people to leave their homeland and migrate to another region
Pull Factor	Conditions that attract immigrants to a new area
Pogrom	An organized persecution of an ethnic group (especially Jews)
Steerage	The cheapest accommodations on a passenger ship
Acculturation	The adoption of the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture
Naturalized	A person who has gone through the process of becoming a citizen
Nativist	A person who favors those born in his country and is opposed to immigrants
Know Nothings	The American Party; anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic
Quota	A limit as to how many people from a certain country can enter the U.S. per year
Refugee	A person who has to leave his or her country to find safety
Asylum	A shelter from danger or hardship
Resident Alien	A non-citizen living in the U.S.
Non Resident Alien	A person from a foreign country who expects to stay in the United States for a short, specified period of time.
Travel Visa	A card that allows one to travel to the US for a limited period of time
Permanent Resident Visa	A card that states that you are not a U.S. citizen, but you are permitted to stay permanently in the U.S.
Green Card	A card that identifies the bearer as an alien with permanent resident status in the United States
Deport	To send an alien or immigrant back to his or her own country
Amnesty	A pardon given to people who have broken immigration laws

STATUE OF LIBERTY and the concept of liberty

http://thebestkidscrafts.com/patriotic-art-lesson-lady-liberty.html

Here's an AWESOME art lesson that we accomplished with a mixed group of students. After a discussion of liberty we voted on the elements to be included in our art work. the results were beautiful. 

Here's another fun hands on paper project: Statue Of Liberty Paper Model

While creating we spent time answering the question: What is Liberty?

American Heritage has FREE curriculum relating to thematic idea of freedom:

The Statue of Liberty:  Students discover and clarify the real meaning and significance behind the Statue of Liberty, including and focusing on the thematic idea of freedom. Students learn about the conceptualization of the statue and the practical steps that led to its completion. Students also examine the content and relevance of the poem inscribed on Lady Liberty. The lesson includes a reading and vocabulary activity, a cutout puppet project, a crossword puzzle, and a text scramble.

More Activities relating to the Statue of Liberty:

Read the poem written by Emma Lazarus.

Sing the Song: Give me your tired and poor.

We then sought resources to the answer the following questions: 
What is it like to be a newcomer in America? 

What hardships have immigrants faced? 
What joys and opportunities have they experienced?

Here are some American History Resources:

America's Library: Jump Back In Time