This project runs 3-4 weeks and is developed through the language arts and history curriculum with additional involvement from the foreign language, math and art departments.   

Objective:   

The purpose of this unit is to make students aware of how immigrants have enriched America's culture and to help them explore their own ethnic background.   

This project is a total integration of language arts and social studies with support from other departments.  It promotes journal and creative writing, research skills, and cooperative learning.  Students are encouraged to use the Internet and computer skills to research and complete their projects.   

Projects:   

Immigration journal: Personal responses involving the book Immigration Kids.  Click here to view sample journal entries.             

Create family trees: Encouraging student and parent interaction is a major benefit of this project.   
   
Completion of "Do Families Grow on Trees?" booklet: Students create a mini history book of their family origins including pertinent information on themselves, siblings, grandparents and great grandparents. This booklet contains ethnic holiday celebrations and customs.   

Research paper on "Famous Immigrants" and their contributions to America: Examples have included Irving Berlin, Levi Strauss, Knute Rockne and Albert Einstein.   

International Pen Pals: This project encourages students to learn about other cultures and customs from a peer in their age group.   

Skits in foreign language:  These skits also coincide with the students' study of Mardi Gras. Foreign  language teachers create decorative masks and display life size pictures of    
students with their foreign language description.   

Math integration: Using ratios, parts of the Statue of Liberty are recreated. Students use paper mache to produce  actual size body parts of the Statue including: the nose, lips, chin, fingernail, and index finger.  Click here to see several of the statue's parts.  This project also involves the Art Department  teachers who act as consultants and instruct in the use of paper mache.  Origami, the age-old Japanese art of paper-folding, requires students to work with care and precision in an exact step by step process.  Students gain a familiarity with geometric figures as they create origami doves.      
   
"A Cookbook in Celebration of Families": Family recipes are contributed by each students, with the final book being laminated and bound.   
   
International Buffet: Held in the evening for parents, siblings and grandparents.  Food is prepared by each family, projects are displayed, skits performed, and cookbooks distributed.   

Links to Immigration Sites:   
    

The Ellis Island Museum has a beautiful site on the history of U.S. immigration. You can look up your family name, read about the museum, and pick up more than a little interesting information.  Click here to go to the Ellis Island Museum.    
   
"The Atlantic Unbound", the online version of "The Atlantic Monthly", has collected an interesting group of articles relating to the immigration issue that have been printed in its pages through the years.  The earliest article is dated June, 1896 and they run through December, 1994.  Click here to browse.   
    
Click on the amazon.com graphic to browse other books on U.S. and world immigration.