Virtual Field Trip Project
Phyllis Woods and Carolyn Soltau
Dripping Springs Primary School
Immigrant Journey to America: Destination New York City 1892 - 1924

This virtual field trip will be completed in approximately three weeks.  This is targeted for grades 3-6.

There are four different tours to visit during this time period.  We will lead in to these lessons with two pieces of literature, Grandfather's Journey and Coming to America.  We will complete these lessons with the story Molly's Pilgrim, thus leading to the overall assessment.


 
 
        Goals
 

1. Learn more about the country our ancestors originally came from including geography, dress, traditions, customs, food, and
    religion.

2. Understand the difficulties of emigrants leaving their homeland and journeying to a new land thus becoming an immigrant.

3. Understand immigration procedures such as legal and medical inspections.

4.  Learn about adjustments to living in a new country where people think, act, and speak differently from each other. 

5.  Understand what freedom is, what it means, and why our ancestors left their homeland to start a new life in the new world of 
     America.

6.  Learn how to search websites to gather information beginning with easy "click and go" and ending with more navigational 
     requirements.
 

 

Tour Stops and Student Activities:
 
Pack your bags and make your plans!  Mama and Papa have said we are moving to America!  But where is America?  They show me a map and say our journey by ship will take about three weeks.  Get your map and prepare for the trip.

1st Virtual Field Trip Tour:  Print a map of the World and a map of Europe to trace your journey at the site below:
National Geographic Xpeditions
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/

Travel to Hamburg (one of several ports where immigrants left for America)  where you board a ship for the United States traveling in steerage class.  Click on links below to see what your journey and arrival in the United States will be like.
Boarding the Ship
http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/emigration/englisch/D/32.htm
On the way
http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/emigration/englisch/B/16.htm
Steerage
http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/emigration/englisch/E/37.htm
Light and Shadow
http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/emigration/englisch/E/38.htm
It will be better here than at home
http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/emigration/englisch/F/42.htm
Sobering reception
http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/emigration/englisch/F/44.htm
Miracles do not happen
http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/emigration/englisch/F/45.htm
Safety in familiar surroundings
http://www.hamburg.de/Behoerden/Pressestelle/emigration/englisch/F/46.htm

Assessment: Write a paragraph  in your journal about how you think emigrants leaving their homeland felt about their journey and how difficult you think it was to be an immigrant coming to the United States at that time. Look up the words "emigrant" and "immigrant." in a dictionary and write down the definition of each word. What is the difference?  Explain.

 

Now let's take a closer look at the Ellis Island experience.

2nd Virtual Field Trip Tour: On Ellis Island
Go to the History Channel site to see your ferry approaching Ellis Island. Click on the audios to listen to immigrants recalling their experiences here. Then click on the "Gateway" link to tour Entrance, Baggage area, Stairs of Separation, Medical exams, Cafeteria, Great Hall, Dormitory and Kissing Post.
History Channel: Ellis Island     http://www.historychannel.com/ellisisland/

Assessment:  After searching the above guided tour, your cooperative group assignment is to role play a scene of an immigrant family on Ellis Island.  Use these additional link to gather more information about families traveling through Ellis Island. 

Additional links for Ellis Island:
International Channel: Ellis Island, Through America's Gateway
http://www.internationalchannel.com/education/ellis/
Murray Street's Ellis Island Audio Clips
http://www.murraystreet.com/ellis.htm
American Family Immigration History Center
http://www.ellisisland.org/Immexp/index.asp?


 
 
Now that you have settled in your new home, it's time to take a break from the everyday hardships and chores and go to see the statue of the lady that you admired so much when you first saw America from your ship. Use the Statue of Liberty Scavenger Hunt questions to guide you through the following site:

3rd Virtual Field Trip Tour: The Statue of Liberty Tour
The Statue of Liberty Photo Tour
http://www.nyctourist.com/liberty1.htm
 

Addtional sites:
National Parks Service Statue of Liberty Monument
http://www.nps.gov/stli/prod02.htm
World Heritage Statue of Liberty
http://www.cr.nps.gov/worldheritage/liberty.htm
Photo of Statue of Liberty with New York in background
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/Statue_of_Liberty.html/TR000904.gbi
Staten Island Web: Statue of Liberty
http://www.si-web.com/Statue.html

Assessment:  Complete the Statue of Liberty Scavenger Hunt and use the National Parks Service and the Staten Island sites for the Statue of Liberty to write a math story problem about this statue.

 


 
For addtional exploration and activities about life of immigrants in New York City in the late 1800's and early 1900's, investigate the following sites:

 
4th Virtual Field Trip:
Tenement Museum:
http://www.thirteen.org/tenement/logcabin.html
A Day in the Life: History Game (Irish immigrant life in 1800s)
http://www.pbs.org/stantonanthony/sa_kids/index.html?body=irish_girl.html

 
Overall Assessment:  After touring virtual fieldtrips and reading Molly's Pilgrim  design a clothespin doll that looks like someone in your family, an ancestor or someone you know of who came to America from another country. Choose one of the following choices to go with the doll: 1. Interview that person or someone that knew that person and write a report that contains information on your ancestor. 2. Pretend to be your ancestor and write a three to five page diary about your experiences while coming to America. 3.Create a poster with a timeline showing important dates in your ancestor's life.  Present your doll and written work to the class.

 
 
Assessment Rubrics

Click here to find the assessment rubric for the journal paragraph, math story problem,  clothespin doll, report, diary, or timeline, and oral presentation of the clothespin doll project.
 

Click here to find the assessment rubric for the role play activity.