Immigration for older students

The whole school has been learning about Immigration to the United States. In addition the oldest students (grades 5 - 8) studied Ellis Island. We read a book about the history of Ellis Island and how New York came to be a major gateway for immigrants coming into the United States. We learned how and why people might be turned away and what happened to people that arrived at Ellis Island with a sickness. Next each student was given a quote from a primary source - oral histories written by immigrants who  came through Ellis Island. Each student had to highlight one or two phrases that caught the essence of the immigration experience.  Using those highlighted words, students created a piece of art using only images to illustrate the meaning of the words.  In the  final class, we put all of the highlighted phrases into a poem that expressed the feelings and experiences of immigrants coming to America.