Ellis Island Field Trip

On Monday, March 5th, grades 6-8 visited the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration.

Students explored the museum in groups, asking questions such as:

• If you were moving to a new place, what would you bring with you and why?
• What are some of the difficulties that immigrants faced when they were going through Ellis Island?
• What factors motivated people to immigrate to America?
• What did people do when they came to America?
• Why do you think people used political cartoons to express their opinions and ideas about immigration? Who do you think is the audience? Whose voices are not heard?

Students in grades 6-8 are preparing for their next social studies unit, which focuses on immigration to America.

In reading, 6th and 7th grade students just finished a unit on historical fiction. Some of our thinking at the museum had to do with making connections between those stories and the history of Ellis Island. Many students noticed details that connected to their historical fiction books.

In Nory Ryan's Song, Nory and her family are forced
to leave Ireland because of the Great Famine.

In Letters from Rifka, Rifka has to stay at Ellis
Island until she is given approval to enter the
United States.

8th graders are preparing for a debate unit in language arts. They continued exploring ideas from Ellis Island by discussing their thinking in class on Tuesday.