Introduction:

The United States has been identified as the "melting pot" of the world. However, many of your classmates, who have grown up in the US do not understand anything about other countries, and why individuals from those countries may dress differently, act differently, and follow different traditions. You have been asked by American Immigration Magazine to provide information that would help students at Algonquin understand the cultures from which many of our students come.

Task:

1. Create a cultural cube that will identify the cultural elements of the country of your heritage.

2. Using Inspiration, create a family tree that begins with your grandparents or great-grandparents and exhibits your heritage.

3. Create a newsletter that provides us with information about someone in your family who is an immigrant or provide us with information about someone you've read about who emigrated from the country of your ancestors.

4. Interview someone in your family who came here from another country (or read about the experiences of some immigrant who came from the country of your ancestors). Write your information or tape your information as an authentic interview.

5. Write an expository paper about the significance of Ellis Island or the Statue of Liberty in the lives of immigrants.

6. Create a poster that shows some of the contributions of individuals who emigrated from the country of your ancestors.

The Process:

1. You will create a six-sided cultural cube that exhibits facts about the country of your ancestors' origin. Your cube should contain both information and pictures. Sides should have the following information:

Side 1-Flag of the country accompanied by the name of the country.

Side 2- Famous places or landmarks that a tourist visiting this country might visit.

Side 3-Information about the people of the country. You may include information about the language, religion, general attitudes or appearance/dress of the people from this region.

Side 4-Explain the lifestyle of this culture. What can you tell us about the family unit, dating and marriage traditions, holidays observed, most common forms of recreation or this culture's diet?

Side 5-Provide information about the government, economy, or type of education provided for residents.

Side 6-Use this side to describe anything else that you think others should know about your country.

Resources:

2001 and 2002 CultureGrams found in the LMC

Encyclopedias found in the LMC

CIA World Factbook

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

Country Studies from Library of Congress

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html#toc

Mexico/Central America

http://gomexico.about.com/cs/culture/

Flags and Maps of the World

http://www.plcmc.org/forkids/mow/

World Flag Database

http://www.flags.net/

2. Create an Inspiration organizer that shows your family tree and heritage. You will need to use Inspiration, which is on all the computers in the LMC. Please use rectangles for males and ovals for females. You are to start with your fraternal and maternal grandparents or great-grandparents. See example below for how to set up.

Family Tree Example

http://www.smartdraw.com/resources/examples/business/orgchart14.htm

3. Using the Appleworks template for creating a newsletter (Ms. Hendrickson will show you how to access it), tell us about your family (or create a newsletter on another family that you've read about). Your newsletter should have:

a. a title with your family name in it

b. articles about your family-how did they come here, why did your ancestors come here, what did your ancestors do, what do they remember about coming to the US, what did they like about the US, what did they dislike about the US, or any other articles that you think might explain more about your family (If you do not have this information available, you will need to read about an immigrant family and complete the assignment with the family you have read about).

Immigration Stories

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/

Go to EBSCO (search.epnet.com) and type in your user name and password. Click on Middle Search Advanced Search

"An Immigrant Story." Also, type in "A New World."

Immigrant Kids-Russell Freedman (LMC)

Journey to Ellis Island-Carol Bierman (LMC)

c. one or two advertisements about

some product or place that represents the country of your heritage

d. a recipe that is a favorite of your particular ethnic group or a recipe that is symbolic of this culture

Ethnic Recipes

http://www.culinaria.com/collectedRecipes/ethnic.html

http://www.recipesource.com/

http://allrecipes.com/directory/28.asp

4. You are to interview a family member or someone else who is from the country of your ancestors. When you write your interview, you will need to write out the question with the corresponding answer. You may tape it as an interview with someone else, or you may write it.

Sample Questions for Immigrants

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/writing/prepare.asp?topic=Immigration

5. Write an expository paper that tells us about Ellis Island or about the Statue of Liberty. You may use books/encyclopedias in the LMC, as well as any of the sites listed below.

Ellis Island

http://www.ellisisland.com/indexHistory.html

be sure to click on all the links under "Ellis Island History" to get enough information

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/index.htm

http://cmp1.ucr.edu/exhibitions/immigration_id.html

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/ellisisle/reborn.html

http://www.nps.gov/stli/serv02.htm

Statue of Liberty

http://www.nps.gov/stli/prod02.htm#Statue%20of

http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/liberty/libertyfacts.htm

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jun19.html

http://www.cr.nps.gov/worldheritage/liberty.htm

6. Some of the people who passed through Ellis Island or who immigrated into the US became very famous. You are to create a poster that identifies the famous people who came from the country that you are presenting. You need to provide information on the famous persons: what were their names, what did they do that made them famous (give specific information), provide a picture of the person if possible. The title of your poster should be:

Contributions of Immigrants from (name of your country) to the US

Famous Immigrants from Various Countries

http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/sl/history/famous.html

http://www.ailf.org/notable/famous.htm

http://www.shusterman.com/quiz6.html

http://www.geocities.com/lothropimmigration/Famousimmigrants.html

http://mcgee.berlinschools.org/Library/socstudies/famous_americans.htm

Immigrants from Hispanic Countries

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/hispanic/history.htm

http://coloquio.com/famosos/

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhmbioaz.html

Evaluation:

IMMIGRATION CUBE RUBRIC

EXPOSITORY PAPER RUBRIC

http://www.schools.manatee.k12.fl.us/webdisk/phillips/KChocolate/exrubric.html

POSTER RUBRIC

Illinois Learning Standards:

1.C.3d-Summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose of the material.

3.C.3a-Compose narrative, informative, and persuasive writings for a specified audience.

5.B.3a-Choose and analyze information sources for individual, academic, and functional purposes.

5.C.3c-Take notes, conduct interviews, organize information in oral, visual and electronic formats.

18.C.3a-Describe ways in which a diverse US population has developed and maintained common beliefs.

18.C.3b-Explain how diverse groups have contributed to US social systems over time.

Created by Donna Hendrickson, Algonquin Middle School