Fourth grade students at the three Bedford
School District (BSD) elementary schools recently participated in an Ellis
Island learning experience. As part of the English Language Arts and Social
Studies curriculum, students had an authentic learning experience of reliving
the experience immigrants went through 100 years ago to gain citizenship in the
United States.
Kara Speaker, Peter Woodbury School’s
enrichment teacher, said, “I get tears in my eyes each year as I watch them
(students) walk out of their classrooms dressed as immigrants from 100 years
ago and totally acting the part. No
matter the kid...this unit reaches each and every one of them.”
The
Ellis Island experience is the culminating learning activity in a unit of study
on immigration. Students have the opportunity to step back in time and reenact what it
would have felt like to step off a steam ship onto Ellis Island. Each
student walks through a progression of stations: Registry, Legal Inspection,
Mental Testing, Medical Inspection, Literacy Test, Special Inquiry, Final
Inquiry and Final Citizenship before they are granted entrance into the United
States. Throughout this immigration unit, the students learn about geography,
their own ancestry, past and current immigration, reasons why people emigrated
from their homelands in the early years of the twentieth century, and the
process of gaining entrance into America through Ellis Island. Additionally,
the students read and write about immigration as part of their English Language
Arts studies.
Current Bedford High School students who
participated in the immigration unit when they were in elementary school traveled back to the elementary
schools for a morning to become part of the Ellis Island greeting
committee. Sixteen BHS students, who are also members of the high school’s
Global Unity Club, actively participated in the process of testing and
determining if the ‘immigrant’ deserved to be allowed into America.
The BSD fourth-grade students enjoyed their
experience. One Peter Woodbury student said of his participation, “It felt good to experience what we
were learning about in class.” Part of the Ellis Island learning activity was
to put the students in the shoes of those who came to America 100 years ago. “I
never knew that people had to go through all that struggle before they got to
America. It made me think how hard it
was for people to have a better life!”, stated a Memorial Elementary school
student.
Creating
a social studies and English learning activity that replicates a real-life experience
gives the students a better opportunity to retain what they learned. As one
Riddle Brook student reflected, “I'm really going to remember the experience of
going through all of those stations and how hard it was!”
It
takes a great deal of planning and preparation from the teachers, staff, and
parent volunteers to make the Ellis Island project a meaningful and memorable
experience for the students. The students were invested in their learning and
ended the unit with a deep understanding of immigration.
Article
Contributors: Kara Speaker, Checker Hansen, Molly McCarthy, Phil Schappler,
Cheryl Daley, Chris O’Hara, and Tom Laliberte
Students at Peter Woodbury look over
their passports and prepare to enter Ellis Island.
A Memorial Elementary student awaits her
turn to gain US citizenship.
