Welcome Immigrants!

Research the great wave of immigration to the United States in the 1800s then create a model of an immigrant marketplace.

• 1.

  Independently or in small groups, research the history of immigrants who came to the United States starting in the late 1800s. Italians, Poles, Armenians, and other peoples from southern and eastern Europe came to the East Coast. Ellis Island, in New York, is known as The Golden Doorway, because so many immigrants entered through that port. On the West Coast, many immigrants from China, Korea, Russia, and Japan entered the country at Angel Island in San Francisco.

• 2.

  Inside a shoe box or similar recycled box, create an authentic marketplace that might have been found in an immigrant community. Use Crayola® Scissors to cut construction paper to make the background, signs, and other parts of the scene. Color and design the box and its lining with Crayola Markers. Attach construction paper to the box with Crayola School Glue.

• 3.

  Research and write signs in the language of the people portrayed, using Crayola Colored Pencils. For example, in an Eastern European chicken market, you might make signs in Hebrew. Hang signs from yarn glued to the box.

• 4.

  Dress clothespins to look like immigrant people. Cut fabric scraps to make authentic-looking dresses, shirts, and pants. Glue fabric on clothespins. Use Crayola Multicultural Markers for realistic skin colors. Glue the vendors and shoppers in place.

• 5.

  Glue cellophane over the front of your finished diorama.

Benefits

• Students research immigration to find out why people from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere left their homelands during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Students determine what living conditions were like when immigrants first settled in the United States or elsewhere during that period.
• Children design and create a traditional immigrant marketplace with figures in authentic clothing and signs that represent the language and culture.

Adaptations

• Research and create dioramas to show where immigrants live in cities around the world. Often, tenements are crowded, and people of the same nationality gather in neighborhoods.
• Imagine what it feels like to leave your homeland forever. How do immigrants make a life in their new country? What obstacles do they have to overcome? Historically, what jobs have been held by new immigrants? Find out how immigration played a role in you
• Research the Statue of Liberty and what it signified for immigrants. Ponder this Emma Lazarus poem: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."