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Sail Away to Ellis Island
Picture of Ellis Island from water

Immigration to the New World
Grades 5th-6th

Introduction:

Ellis Island was, and still is, famous for the many immigrants who landed on its soil many years ago. The island was the gateway to America for 12 million people during the years 1892-1954. During this time, the Island was an official federal immigration station. Ellis Island is located in the upper part of New York Bay, which is off the coast of New Jersey, and stands right beside the Statue of Liberty. Many of our ancestors from all over the world arrived in the United States through way of Ellis Island. For this reason, the Island has become a very important historical site that is visited by thousands of Americans every year.

Immigrants in Dining Room at Ellis Island

click the link for more pictures of immigrants: http://www.ellisisland.org/photoalbums/ellis_island_then.asp

Your Challenge:

Don't you ever wonder how our country came to be full of so many rich and diverse backgrounds? Well, you can out how some of our great heritage came to us by researching the immigrants of Ellis Island. In order to fully comprehend the importance of the immigration station, you will have to explore several websites and find out some very important information. While doing research on the links provided, think about these questions:

~ What countries were people from before coming to the United States?
~ Through reading some immigrant's stories about their journeys to Ellis Island, how do you think the people felt during their trip and once they landed in America?
~ What is Ellis Island like at the present day?

Statue of Liberty

Your Journey:

To research more information, visit these websites:

Website Name URL

Relive One Boy’s Story to Ellis Island	http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/seymour/index.htm
A Brief History of Ellis Island	http://library.thinkquest.org/5101/brief.history.htm
Ellis Island Timeline & Number of Immigrants per country per time period	http://www.ellisisland.org/immexp/wseix_4_3.asp?
The Journey to Ellis Island (click on two photographs to hear first-hand accounts about two immigrant’s journey here – make sure your volume is up!)	http://old.internationalchannel.com/education/ellis/journey.html
Arrival at Ellis Island (first-hand accounts by clicking on photos of people)	http://old.internationalchannel.com/education/ellis/arrival.html

Your Report:

Use the information from the websites to put together a written report about the immigrant's journey to the United States. Please do so by writing thoughtful responses to these writing prompts:

~ Read about Seymour Rechtzeit's journey through Ellis Island and write about how his story made you feel.

Pictures from http://old.internationalchannel.com/education/ellis/journey.html

~ Using first-hand accounts from the immigrants you read or heard about, do you beleive the journey to the U.S. was easy and relaxing? Why, or why not?
~ Draw a detailed picture, in color, of what you think the ships looked like that the immigrants traveled on.

You can get even more information by visitng Yahooligans search engines and writing keywords like:

~Ellis Island Immigrants

~ Immigrants, Ellis Island - primary sources

~U.S. Immigrants

More Fun Exploration of Ellis Island:
Take a virtual tour of the island!

If you have any questions, feel free to email the creator, Meg Loehning, @ mloehnin@uvm.edu