Third Graders Learn About Their Heritage

By Tanjua Damon

Sandy Hook third graders have been learning about what some of their family members went through to come to the United States back in the 1800s. In one class, students pretended they were immigrants and medical examiners that marked immigrants with letters to symbolize if they were healthy or what aliment they might have.

In one student’s family, everyone was healthy except one boy. The parents did not want to leave him so they told the boy to turn his jacket inside out so that the letters could not be seen. Many of the students learned their great-grandparents and grandparents had come to the United States for a better life than they could find in their native countries.

 Students spend about a month researching a particular relative’s heritage during the unit. They spend time completing a writing journal where the students can write accurate stories they have learned about their ancestors or make up things that might have happened to their families from what they have learned about immigrants from classroom lessons.

The students wrote in their journals how difficult the journey was from Europe to the Americas. Many were sick because of the boat ride. Immigrants came with very few belongings. The sight of Ellis Island brought many uncertainties for the family members, but the students wrote about their joy of coming to America to begin a new life, a better life.

Shannon Leary wrote about her great-grandfather from Ireland.

“He didn’t just come on a plane. It took more than a few minutes to get here. It took a lot of work,” Shannon said. “I liked all of it [the project]. It was fun to learn about other people’s families and it was fun learning about my family. I enjoyed it a lot.”

Meredith Bridges learned about her great-grandfather Ian Bridges from England. Although she realized England is not that much different than the United States, she enjoyed taking the time to learn things about her family she did not know before.

“I liked writing in the journals. I didn’t really know a lot of information so I got to make a lot of it up,” Meredith said. “I learned the money is different in England. Instead of dollars they have pounds.”

The students wore paper flags around their necks representing the country the researched. Andrew Argraves learned about Italy.

“This gave me a bit of knowledge of what immigrants had to do and I learned about my great-grandfather,” Andrew said. “I did a lot of research. I really never knew he was from Italy. I always thought it was my great-grandmother, but it was both of them.”

The third graders culminate the unit with their parents coming to the school to hear a journal entry and share food from the countries of their ancestors. The students also sing several songs that relate to what they learned about their heritage.