Prompted by a viewing of Emiko and Chizu Omori’s Rabbit in the Moon, a documentary about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, high schoolers examine a series of documents, including the Bill of Rights and the UN’s...

For those class members who have mastered the basic concepts and need extra challenges, here's a packet of activities sure to engage them in stories about American immigration and exploration. Kids may design a dramatic...

Through this set of three lessons about Ellis Island, class members will learn about why immigrants came to the United States, find out about the difficulties that went along with coming to America, become familiar with the immigration...

Is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) good for America? The informative website is a one-stop shop for ACLU debate resources. Scholars read about the topics surrounding the issue, including free speech, national security, and...

Students discuss the American dream and explain what the American Dream consists of. In this American Dream lesson, students listen to music about America for the reasons people love America.  Students create a list of wants and...

As part of their exploration of the American dream, class members examine primary source materials to compare immigrant experiences of those arriving early in our country's history to those arriving in the US after World War...

Students identify the contributions of immigrants to America. They analyze the value of these contributions as well. They discuss how these contributions affect other's personal perspectives of immigrants.

Investigate national unity in a month-long lesson. After creating "I am from" poems, 5th graders will construct accordion flip books, listing and illustrating reasons for settlement. Choosing illustrations, essays, or Powerpoint...

The students create a personal narrative on their experiences with immigration. In this lesson, students are asked to read and understand examples of narrative writing as well as evaluate lyrics from Ben Folds Five to determine elements...

What is the American Dream? When did this term first gain popularity? Intermediate and advanced English language learners discuss the idea of the American Dream and conduct out-of-class interviews with those who immigrated to the US. On...

Willa Cather's My Antonia might seem like a hard sell for today's teen readers. Rather than dramatic plot twists, trysts, and terrors, the novel celebrates the pioneer spirit that lead immigrants to a small Nebraska town. The Signet...

What were the driving forces behind American expansion in the nineteenth century, and what were its effects? Scholars watch a video, read biographies, engage in discussion, write journals and poetry, draw, and create a multimedia...

Students explore history is not as a listing of dates, wars, and leaders but as the story of real people whose lives were impacted by the events of their time. They complete a pedigree chart and tape record a family member.

Students interview a person who has immigrated to America and, based on that interview, to write an article about the person.

Students explore U.S. History by researching Kansas. In this immigration lesson, students discuss the benefits of immigrating to a state like Kansas in the 1800's while writing their thoughts and research in a reporter's notebook....

Students learn about the Chinese culture via literature. They read the poetry of Cathy Song, considering national pride as Americans and Chinese.

Fifth graders study the immigration station on Ellis Island. Through several activities, they see that immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island came to America from different countries, mostly those in Europe, for a variety of reasons.

Learners evaluate impact of American politics, economy, culture, and environment on the immigrant, gather first person data, and use it to develop a persuasive presentation.

Young scholars use the site maps and other resources to research one of the influential Caribbean immigrants or descendents of immigrants mentioned in a narrative they have read. They write an essay about an influential immigrant.

Bring multi-cultural experiences and literature into your language arts class with this lesson. Here, young readers explore the points of view of first and second-generation Asian immigrants with a list of various fiction and nonfiction...

Have a Happy Halloween and build strong oral language skills. Special needs Pupils functioning at a moderate level can practice sequencing, writing lists, and using oral language by explaining how they carve a pumpkin. 

Nonfiction texts about people on the move provide young readers with an opportunity to examine not only the problem-solving strategies employed by immigrants, but to also find examples of figurative language these writers use to tell...

Learners explore the role of special-interest groups in American campaigns. They create their own political advertisements.

Use the well-known KWHL chart as a tool for building up to a research project and oral presentation related to Willa Cather's My Antonia. Starting with a class brainstorm, pupils research and gradually narrow down topics relating to...