September 19, 2015

by Caitlin Fahey

Lesson plan

Immigration: Ellis Island

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to understand the process for immigrants traveling through Ellis Island into the United States.

Introduction

(5 minutes)

Display pictures of Ellis Island on the board for students.
Explain that an immigrant is a person who leaves another country to move to a new one.
Ask if any students have heard of Ellis Island to see if any students have background knowledge.
If this does not trigger interest, ask if any students are immigrants or if any have family members who are.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

(10 minutes)

Hand out the Ellis Island worksheet.
Show photos of Ellis Island in the early 1900s and as it is now.
Read the worksheet with your students, and direct them to underline important information and vocabulary.

Guided Practice

(20 minutes)

Have students work with partners to answer the questions at the bottom of the worksheet.
Ask them to write down 5 facts from the article on the back of the worksheet.
Review your students' work, and have each student list one interesting fact he learned from the worksheet.

Independent working time

(20 minutes)

Hand out the Ellis Island interview worksheet.
Read the instructions, and have your students independently work on the survey.
Direct your students to write a journal entry from the point of view of a child their age who went across the Atlantic Ocean to go to Ellis Island.

Differentiation

Enrichment: Have students use 5-8 new vocabulary words in their entries, and direct them to write a parallel journal entry from the point of view of an immigration official.
Support: Have students write a journal entry of 5 sentences with a drawing of Ellis Island.

Assessment

(5 minutes)

As you walk around the room, check to make sure that your students are using facts from the worksheet to back up their journal entries.

Review and closing

(15 minutes)

Have students share their entries aloud.

Guided Lesson: Informational Text 1

Guided Lessons are a sequence of interactive digital games, worksheets, and other activities that guide learners through different concepts and skills. They keep track of your progress and help you study smarter, step by step.

Guided Lessons are digital games and exercises that keep track of your progress and help you study smarter, step by step.

Now that reading skills are more developed, second graders will move on to comprehension of informational text. This guided lesson supports this through an exploration of the main idea of a text, as well as the other text features, such as: captions, phtoographs, maps headings, subheadings, glossary, index, icons and graphs. Kids will look at two texts that cover the same topic, but in different ways.

Now that reading skills are more developed, second graders will move on to comprehension of informational text.

This lesson includes printable activities: Download all (5)

Story: Symbiotic Relationships

Game: Symbiotic Relationships Reading Comprehension

Game: Symbiotic Relationships: Vocabulary Quiz

Game: Identify the Text Features

Story: Flightless Birds

Game: Flightless Birds Reading Comprehension

Start Guided Lesson

Lesson plan

Immigration: Ellis Island

Learning Objectives

Introduction

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

Guided Practice

Independent working time

Differentiation

Assessment

Review and closing

Guided Lesson: Informational Text 1

Related learning resources

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