What can we learn about immigration from the people who experienced it?

This is the essential question Ms. O'Hara and I ask 4th graders to consider during our Aerie Unit on Primary Sources.  During our first class, the children examine 3 photographs and a ship's manifest to see what they can learn about immigration, at the turn of the century, from these documents.  After looking at the various pictures and manifest,  we gather together to discuss what surprised them and what they learned from the primary sources.

IMMIGRANTS ON SHIP, c1900. - Steerage passengers on the 'S.S. Pennland' in New York Harbor, c1900.. Fine Art. Britannica ImageQuest, Encyclopædia Britannica, 25 May 2016. 
quest.eb.com/search/140_1634535/1/140_1634535/cite. Accessed 28 Oct 2018.

In our second class, the kids listen to recorded recollections of immigrants who entered the US through Ellis Island.  They also read remembrances from those who immigrated through Angel Island.   We wrap up  the  rotation by creating a list of all the things we learned about immigration from looking at pictures and reading or listening to people's memories of immigrating.  The 4th graders will use the ideas they generate when they take on the persona of an immigrant and write journal entries as that immigrant.

Here are just some of the things they learned:

• At Angel Island people were locked in their dorms after dinner like prison.
• People were asked lots of questions when they immigrated through Angel Island including things like how many windows in your neighbor's house.
• The meals in detainment were awful.
• Steerage was smelly, crowded and there were rats.