Hello families!
The week before spring break was a very busy one for the students and me. It was my lead week which means I planned and taught everything we did that week! I wanted to share with you some of the activities and lessons we did.
First, in writing we published our opinion pieces. Each student chose a topic they were passionate about over the past few weeks, and had to give reasons and examples to back up their arguments. For example, should we have gym more often in schools? Should schools have uniforms? Should we bring back extinct animals? Do dogs or cats make the better pet? We had a battle of cats vs. dogs break out and lots of other productive conversations occurred in our classroom! The students published them on nice paper and you will be able to read their final pieces when they bring them home in the near future.
In whole class math, we expanded more with properties of quadrilaterals. Each student discovered the attributes of one specific quadrilateral and wrote about them in the format of “What Does the Quad Say?” a play on words of the crazy song “What Does the Fox Say!” Their projects turned out great, and they were humming the song out the door that day, so hopefully What Does the Fox Say didn’t get stuck in your heads that night!
In Social Studies, we had an exciting week because it was our immigration simulation that the student teachers and I co-planned.They were given passports and the week before made suitcases to “pack” and take with us along the journey. Students were randomly divided into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class passengers. Additionally, their passports told them what country they came from and if they were traveling with a family or not. The passengers had to stick with their families throughout the journey, so if one family member was left behind they had to wait for them. Many large families were cross-classes and 3rd class, up to 9 or 10 siblings. Of course, back in the 1900s the majority of immigrants (approximately 90%) were 3rd class passengers, so we had 90% of the third grade be in third class. Because of this, it was a rough ride for many of our passengers.
On Tuesday, the immigrants went through baggage claim. Each student could only bring the luggage that their class allowed. For example, 1st class could bring anything they wanted but 3rd class could only bring one clothing item and 1 piece of food. Passengers could only bring their stuffies if they could fit in a small box, but 3rd class got their stuffies taken away. We wanted to emulate to them in terms of what they are familiar with, how the classes of immigrants were treated differently, and they have certainly discovered this throughout the journey!
Our ship left for Ellis Island, equipped with our captain who led us through torrential thunderstorms and foggy weather.
After many long, agonizing days on the boat where passengers were in close quarters and spreading diseases such as tuberculosis or smallpox, the S.S. Marquette finally caught sight of Lady Liberty. But once on Ellis Island was where the real struggle began.
There were three stations the students had to get through in order to become a U.S. citizen: The Medical Room, the Citizenship Room, and the Currency Exchange. In the Medical Room, immigrants had to pass physical and mental exams, as well as be quarantined if they caught one of the various diseases that were spreading. In the Citizenship Room, passengers had to pass an exam about the history and facts about America in order to prove they could qualify and wanted to be U.S. Citizens. In the Currency Exchange, immigrants exchanged their euros for American dollars and had to figure out how much money they needed to buy train tickets to travel to cities across America. Due to the lack of money between classes, many immigrants had to stay in New York City and start off their family life there.
Once we got to America, we wrote letters home to our families about the journey we took and what we learned about being an immigrant. We reflected upon our experience, and got a large range of responses! If you haven’t already, make sure to ask your child how their immigration experience was!
Lastly on Friday Joe Schobert, a former Wisconsin Badger football player, came in to speak to the students about the importance of school and getting involved in school activities and sports. As an avid Harry Potter and Percy Jackson fan, many kids drilled him with trivia to try to stump him! He also signed some cards, badger memorabilia, and even a sweatshirt!
All in all, it was a wonderful experience for my lead week in Ms. Mack’s class. We crammed many activities into that one week and the kids impressed me with their hard work and curiosity. My next lead week will be next week April 4th-8th!
Thanks for reading!
-Ms. McDonnell
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