Coming To America

Title/name of Resource: Coming to America Project
Topic:  Immigration

Source/author: Francis Dechame (The Dorset School, fifth grade teacher) and Margaret Cintorino

Intended Purpose:  A project to immerse students in immigration and history of the community

Intended Audience: Fifth grade, though could be adapted to other grade levels

Resource Requirements: None

Abstract: This is a project about immigration in the Dorset community.  Students visit local cemeteries, find names of residents who appear to have emigrated to the area, investigate their backgrounds at the town clerk’s office, and write a story about them, in the first person, detailing what their lives are like, based on imagination, knowledge of the time and historical fact.  The final product is a digital story.  Along the way, students learn about gravestone symbols, interview a family member or friend and tape it to learn about oral traditions and history, make an ancestry quilt with different colors representing students’ various cultural backgrounds and read about immigration.   Justification: This is a good example of project based learning. Students gain a real sense of history, and develop a rich understanding of immigration.