• identify the reasons why immigrants left their homes to come to the United States
• describe the meaning of immigration
• identify some of the problems immigrants faced on their journey to the U.S. and when they arrived

• Varying academic levels: uses heterogeneous grouping to allow students of differing abilities to support learning, uses small and whole group discussions to ensure full student participation
• Visual learners: incorporates visual aids
• Auditory learners: uses small-group and whole-group discussions to engage students
• Kinesthetic learners: allows students to move within their groups and present to the entire class 

• Show students a picture of the Statue of Liberty and ask them to write on a piece of notebook paper what it means to them.
• Discuss the different responses elicited from the students
• Then tell students that the Statue of Liberty was the first visible symbol of America and immigrants' arrival to their new home. 

• Explain to students that immigration is the movement of people from one place to another for permanent residence.
• Show students a world map and explain that people from all over the world immigrate to the U.S. for many reasons.
• Explain that many immigrants arrived at Ellis Island, NY and saw the Statue of Liberty.
• Describe how the immigrants were inspected before they left home and again when they arrived.
• Explain some people were marked with chalk when they arrived and some were even deported when they failed inspection.
  • Markings –
    • “X” = possible mental illness
    • “B” = back
    • “E” = eyes
    • “P” = physical or eyes
    • “Sc” = scalp
    • “L” = lameness
    • “CT” = trachoma
    • “SI” = Special Inquiry (may have committed a crime in the old country, came to America with the promise of a job, wouldn’t be able to support yourself or your family, or had certain mental or physical problems that would keep you from being able to work)
• Read the life stories document to the class.
• Divide the class into groups of four, pairing stronger students with more challenged students.
  • Group roles:
    • Reader – read story of journey to group
    • Scribe – write down the group’s answers on Q & A paper
    • Mapper – map the group’s journey
    • Presenter – presents the group’s information to the class
• Give each set of students the story of their journey as immigrants and a map. Each group represents a family and their journey to the U.S.

Practice

• Within their groups, have each student read to their group members a part of their family’s journey which they will eventually share with the class.
• Also, within their groups, students will map their journey from their home country to Ellis Island.
• Ask students to identify why their family left their home country to come to the U.S. and write their responses on the whiteboard. Then cover it before students do their assessment.
• Each group will be asked to share their journey to the U.S with the class, describe some of the problems they faced, and show the map of their journey.