Connect!
Growing Little Leaves: Genealogy for Children
  • Home
  • About
  • Mission
  • Activities
  • Printables
    • Ancestor Worksheets
  • Books
    • Grandparents and Memory Journals
    • Immigration
    • Africa
    • Black America
    • Canada
    • East and Southeast Asia
    • India and Bangladesh
    • Latin America
    • Native America
  • Resources
  • Contact
  • Blog

Connecting With Industrial-Era Ancestors

7/23/2017

0 Comments

 
Connecting With Industrial-Era Ancestors // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
I haven't written too much about my own personal family history on this blog; I usually save those posts for my other blog, ​The Spiraling Chains. If you've ever happened upon that blog of mine, you know that my family history here in America began fairly recently. All of my great-grandparents immigrated to America between 1890 and 1920, coming from poor backgrounds in various parts of Europe to work urban foundry and steel mill jobs in the booming urban industrial atmosphere of the Great Lakes during that time period.

When it comes to teaching my kids about what life what like for my great-grandparents and their children in this urban industrial environment, I struggle. I struggle finding age-appropriate educational resources to help them understand this part of American history. There simply aren't that many children's books about average people during this time in American history. Why? Well, there isn't a whole lot of American nostalgia associated with dirty factories and the pollution that came with them. The people who worked these factories, steel mills, mines, and foundries were poor and uneducated, and, unfortunately, a lot of personal tragedy followed these families. Some were immigrants and some were African-Americans who came northwards during The Great Migration. They were all looking for unskilled labor jobs, and, although their manpower was needed, they were usually socially unwanted by the established neighborhoods and populations of the towns and cities to which they were moving.

It's called the Rust Belt for a reason. The neighborhoods in which these people lived and worked do not exist any longer - and that is often a literal statement - many homes, storefronts, and factories have been demolished, and those that haven't are often boarded up, no longer offering any clues to their former purpose or resemblance. And historical societies in most places aren't interested in restoring the small, utilitarian former homes and businesses of turn-of-the-century working-class families.

But, despite all of this, I have found a few resources and ways that I can use to help my children learn more about the lives of their industrial ancestors, and I will share some of them below:

Fiction Books:
No Star Nights by Anna Egan Smucker & Steve Johnson
(Told from the perspective of a girl growing up in a steel mill town in West Virginia during the 1940s and 50s, this book is the BEST storybook for helping kids understand what everyday life was like for working-class families whose livelihoods depended on coal and industry.)

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel & Melissa Sweet
Counting on Grace by Elizabeth Winthrop (children's novel)
Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson (children's novel)
​Factory Girl by Barbara Greenwood
Shovelful of Sunshine by Stacie Vaughn Hutton and Cheryl Harness
In Coal Country by Judith Hendershot and Thomas B. Allen
Finder, Coal Mine Dog (Dog Chronicles) by Alison Hart and Michael G. Montgomery


Picture
Picture
Picture
​Non-Fiction Books:
Growing Up in Coal Country by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Kids on Strike by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor by Russell Freedman
Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman
Working Children by Carol Saller
The Great Migration: An American Story by Jacob Lawrence


Historical Sites & Museums:
Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City, New York
Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area in Homestead, Pennsylvania
The National Iron & Steel Heritage Museum in Coatesville, Pennsylvania
​Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Benham, Kentucky
Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor in Youngstown, Ohio

Steel Plant Museum of Western New York in Buffalo, New York
Michigan Iron Industry Museum in Negaunee, Michigan
Coppertown USA Mining Museum in Calumet, Michigan
The Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, New Jersey
The Museum of Science & Industry: Coal Mine in Chicago, Illinois
The Baltimore Museum of Industry in Baltimore, Maryland
​National Museum of Industrial History in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Some local historical societies and universities also have resources (books, photos, maps) that can help you learn more about the daily lives of your industrial-era ancestors, and the good news is that more and more of these institutions are digitizing their collections for online access. Once I discovered where my great-grandfather worked, I did my own research, using information gathered online from Google Books and local history websites. Several years ago, I published this blog post about what I learned, and now my 9-year-old son can read the post and learn more about what his great-great-grandfather did for a living. 

Kids always connect better with visual images of the past, but finding photos of old homes, churches, and neighborhoods that are no longer around can be difficult. A simple Google image search may yield some surprising results, not only from collections of libraries, historical societies, and universities, but also from private collections that another person may have posted on a personal website or blog. In some locations, properties were photographed for tax purposes, so check with local town and county archives to see if that might be part of their collection; I obtained this photograph (on the left) of my great-grandfather's hardware store from old tax records held at the county archives. The photo on the right is what the property looks like today.
Picture
Picture
YouTube: There are so many great educational films and old news reels about the early 20th century steel and mining industries. Here is one produced during WWII that is informative, but short enough for kids' limited attention spans:
Lesson Plans & Teacher Guides:
The Industrial Age in America: Sweatshops, Steel Mills, and Factories from the National Endowment for the Humanities (Grades 6-8)
​Teacher Guide: The Industrial Revolution in the United States from the Library of Congress
​Industrial Revolution from Middle Tennessee State University (High School)
Photographs of Lewis Hine -- Documentation of Child Labor from the National Archives
​

I hope this (small) collection of ideas and resources helps you teach your children a little more about their late 19th and early 20th century industrial ancestors. Thanks for reading!

​©2017 Emily Kowalski Schroeder.

Print Friendly and PDF
0 Comments

Immigration Primer For Kids

1/29/2017

0 Comments

 
This is a simple, but informative introduction to immigration that is geared towards elementary-aged children (roughly grades 2-5). Click on either image to download the two-page file. Please  distribute freely as you see fit. 
Immigration Primer for Kids from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Immigration Primer for Kids from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
©2017 Emily Kowalski Schroeder
0 Comments

40 Picture Books About the Immigrant Experience

11/14/2016

0 Comments

 
40 Picture Books About The Immigrant Experience from GrowingLittleLeaves.com
I am a firm believer in the power of education to advance empathy and understanding between people of different ethnicities, religions, and cultural backgrounds. This week, I've assembled a list of children's picture books that tell immigrant stories. Most of these books talk about the immigrant experience through the eyes of a child; they speak to the physical, emotional, and psychological experiences of immigrants. Some of the books address what life was like in their homelands, some focus on the journey itself, and many of these stories focus on the everyday struggles faced by immigrants as they start their new lives in America (or Australia and Canada, in the case of a few of these stories.) 

Immigration is a huge part of the collective, but still deeply personal,  American-family history. No matter where your ancestors came from and no matter when they came to America, chances are they all experienced the SAME feelings and challenges in their new adopted homeland. Speaking with children about those similarities can help them develop compassion and understanding for present-day immigrant families.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are also many wonderful immigrant-story chapter books for more advanced readers. Each title is linked to its WorldCat entry, so hopefully you will be able to find a copy at your local library. I've also found free discussion and teacher guides for some of these books, so I've included links to those as well. Happy reading!


40 Picture Books About the Immigrant Experience

Marianthe's Story: Painted Words and Spoken Memories by Aliki          Teacher Guide

Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story by Eve Bunting


How Many Days to America: A Thanksgiving Story by Eve Bunting


One Green Apple by Eve Bunting          Lesson Plan

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi          Discussion Guide

Good-bye Havana! Hola, New York! by Edie Colon

Carmen Learns English by Judy Cox

Kai's Journey to Gold Mountain by Katrina Saltonstall Currier

This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From by Jamie Lee Curtis    Educator's Guide


The Little Refugee by Ahn Do          Teacher's Guide

Lailah's Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story by Reem Faruqi          Educator's Guide

The Seeds of Friendship by Michael Foreman

​How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman

The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland          Teacher's Guide

​Sofie and the City by Karima Grant

When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest          Sample Lesson

The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman
​
I'm New Here by Bud Howlett

Paper Son: Lee's Journey to America by Helen Foster James and Virginia Shin-Mui Loh

My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald

Waiting for Papá by René Colato Laínez

I Hate English! by Ellen Levine          Book Guide and Lesson Plans

Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson

Coming to America: The Story
of Immigration by Betsy Maestro

From Far Away by Robert Munsch          Lesson Plan


I'm New Here by Anne Sibley O'Brien     YouTube Discussion     Author Interview

My Diary From Here to There by Amada Irma Pérez     Teacher's Guide    Lesson Plan

The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco          Teacher Guide

Fiona's Lace by Patricia Polacco

My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits


Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say

Anna & Solomon by Elaine Snyder

Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele Maria Surat

Mary's First Thanksgiving: An Inspirational Story of Gratefulness by Kathy-jo Wargin

A Piece of Home by Jeri Watts

My Name is Sangoel by Karen Ly
nn Williams and Khadra Mohammed          Teacher's Guide

The Memory Coat by Elvira Woodruff          Lesson Plan          Family Program Guide

All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel by Dan Yaccarino

Hannah Is My Name: A Young Immigrant's Story by Belle Yang     Lesson Plan

Coolies by Yin     Lesson Guide
​
©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder
Print Friendly and PDF
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
0 Comments

Book Review: The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup

10/4/2016

0 Comments

 
Over the past 30 years or so, author and illustrator Patricia Polacco has created some amazing and poignant works of children's literature, many of them surrounding historical events and some of them based on her own family history. The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup are two of my favorites, and are based on the lives of her Russian Jewish ancestors.
Book Review: The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco - GrowingLittleLeaves.com
In The Keeping Quilt, we meet a young girl, Anna, whose family has just immigrated to the U.S. from Russia. We hear about the family's struggles in adapting to new life in a big city and learning a new language, but we are also witness to the important roles of community and family in immigrant life. The book follows the journey of a handmade quilt passed along through several generations and how it served family members as a tablecloth, wedding huppah, baby blanket, and even a play tent. This story is a charming example of how an heirloom can come to represent a family's history, people, and experiences. The Keeping Quilt is appropriate for all ages. 

The Blessing Cup is a prequel to The Keeping Quilt. It tells the story of Anna's family before they came to America - about what life was like in Russia. This story is more intense than The Keeping Quilt from an emotional standpoint, because it does allude to the terror felt by the family and village people during the Russian pogroms, and about the hardships the family goes through on their journey out of Russia and eventually to America. However, it also demonstrates the kindness, generosity, and sacrifice of strangers. And through all of their ordeals, there is another heirloom that comes to represent the family's journey - a cup from a tea set given to Anna's parents as a wedding gift.

I would recommend The Blessing Cup for ages 7 and up. As mentioned above, the historical events within the story are more complex, and some younger children may not emotionally process it or understand it as well as older children. It is, however, a good story to help you initiate discussion with your children about immigration push-and-pull factors throughout history, particularly with respect to people of the Jewish faith.

I've written before about how important it is to introduce our children to family heirlooms at an early age. Heirlooms are concrete, tangible items that link us to the people in our family who came before us. After reading these books to your children or grandchildren, share some of your family's most cherished heirlooms with them, and better yet, share the stories and memories that accompany those heirlooms. 

*This post does NOT contain affiliate links*


©2016 Emily Kowalski Schroeder
Print Friendly and PDF
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
0 Comments

Family Heritage Flags

10/6/2014

0 Comments

 
Family Heritage Flags // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Today, October 6, is German American Heritage Day. On this day in 1683, the first group of German immigrants to settle in America sailed into the Port of Philadelphia. I do not have any German ancestry myself, but many, many of my husband's ancestors were from Germany, and so my children share in that German heritage.

I wanted to do a simple craft or hands-on activity to 'celebrate' the day with my kids - nothing too complex or too difficult to understand, especially for my four year old. One thing that both of them seem to understand is that different countries have different flags. They recognize the American flag when they see it, and during the Summer Olympics earlier this year, we looked at and talked about other nations' flags. So, I thought, why not do a craft involving the German flag?

Fortunately now, in the age of the Internet, it is super, super easy to look up what each country's flag looks like. There are also several free-access websites that allow you to print off blank black-and-white versions of world flags for coloring or other crafts. This website has eight pages of printable black-and-white flags for nearly every nation of the world (scroll down to see links to all eight pages of flags). This website is not as globally-comprehensive as the previous link, but for the countries that are represented, the coloring printables go beyond just the country's flag. It has maps, symbols, folklore pictures, and other cultural items related to that nationality.

I printed out two blank German flags. My daughter simply colored - ok, scribbled - one of the flags with crayons. I found a picture of the German flag on my phone and asked her to copy it. Then, we used a circular paper punch to make red, black, and yellow circles that she glued onto the other flag I had printed out. Her artistic interpretation was minimalistic, but that's ok! Let the children be creative with it and design the activity around what your child enjoys. You could color it by finger-painting, or maybe by gluing on small colored pompon balls. You could even use colored beads or candy, like M&Ms. You could tear off small pieces of paper, glue them on, and make a mosaic.

Family Heritage Flags // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Family Heritage Flags // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Family Heritage Flags // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
As you are doing this activity, be sure to show your child where the country is located, using either an atlas, globe, or a map on the Internet. Younger children who are still learning colors will benefit from identifying the individual colors within each flag. With older children, you can discuss the symbolism within the flag - what the colors and pictures represent. (In Wikipedia, if you type in 'Flag of (country),' the site will return a page that is all about the symbolism and history of that country's flag.) And, of course, be sure to mention who in their family tree has ancestral roots in that country. For younger children, it could be as simple as saying, 'Grandma and Grandpa S's ancestors came to America from Germany a long time ago.' As children get older, little by little you can start talking about specific years of immigration and names of ancestors.
Our children are fortunate to live in a time and place that recognizes the importance of ethnic diversity and celebrates different cultures throughout the year. Of course, you don't have to wait until a special month or day to celebrate your family's heritage, but it is a good idea to know when these months occur because your community or surrounding communities may have special ethnic celebrations to look out for. Here is a list of some of the common heritage months and days in America, as well as some traditional holidays still celebrated in the 'old countries.'
African-American History Month (February)

Irish American History Month (March)
St. Patrick’s Day (March 17)

Greek American Heritage Month (March)

Arab American Heritage Month (April)

Scottish American Heritage Month (April)
National Tartan Day (April 6)

Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May)

Cinco de Mayo – Mexican American (May 5)

Haitian Heritage Month (May)

Jewish American Heritage Month (May)

Caribbean American Heritage Month (June)
French American Heritage Month (July)
Bastille Day (July 14)

Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15)
Mexican Independence Day (September 16)

Italian American Heritage Month (October)

Leif Erikson Day – Norwegian American (October  9)

German American Heritage Month (October)
German American Heritage Day (October 6)

Filipino American Heritage Month (October)

Polish American Heritage Month (October)

Native American Heritage Month (November)
Native American Heritage Day (Friday after Thanksgiving)

Dutch American Heritage Day (November 16)


St. Lucia’s Day – Traditional Scandinavian Holiday (Dec 13)
©2014, Emily Kowalski Schroeder
Print Friendly and PDF
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
0 Comments

Book Review: When Jessie Came Across the Sea

4/17/2014

0 Comments

 
Book Review: When Jessie Came Across the Sea // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Today, April 17, is Ellis Island Family History Day, so I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to talk about a children's immigration book that I absolutely adore. The book is entitled When Jessie Came Across the Sea.  It was written by Amy Hest and illustrated by P.J. Lynch.

Jessie is an orphaned 13-year-old girl living with her grandmother in a small, poor Jewish village, probably somewhere in Eastern Europe. Of all the villagers, the rabbi chooses Jessie to use a passage ticket to America that was sent to him from a family member.  Jessie is to go help one of the rabbi's widowed family members in her dress shop in New York City.

The book follows Jessie at every point in her journey, from the sad goodbyes with her grandmother, to the interactions with other immigrants on board, to the questionings at Ellis Island.  It touches on Jessie's work in the dress shop, and through letters sent home to grandmother, we are given some insight into some of Jessie's thoughts about living in the big city.

I love this book because it touches on SO many experiences and issues that were involved for immigrants who came to America in the late 19th/early 20th century:

- The positive perception of America to poor Europeans and the value of a passage ticket:  Before the rabbi chooses Jessie, many other villagers plead with him for the ticket and talk of America as "the promised land."

- The emotional torment of the ones who stayed behind, in this case the grandmother - knowing that leaving the village was the only way to improve her granddaughter's life, but realizing that it would still break her heart to see her go.

- The poor weather, crowded living conditions, and short tempers on the ship, but also the comradery that developed between passengers.

- The experience of going through Ellis Island: the inspections, questions, and waiting, waiting, waiting.

- The culture shock of going from a small agriculture village to a large industrial city.

- The joys of finding success in America that they never would have found back in their native land.

- The difficulty in learning English.
 
- Saving enough money to buy a passage ticket for a loved one who is still back in Europe.

- The importance and meaning of family heirlooms, in this case, Jessie's deceased mother's wedding ring.

This book is probably best for ages six and up; the story is longer and more detailed than books for younger children. (I tried to read it to my 3 1/2 year old, but we only made it about 3/4 through until she became bored.)  For older children, you could even read the book to them in parts and talk about each of the issues stated above in more detail before moving on to the next event in Jessie's life.  

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All rights reserved.

Print Friendly and PDF
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
0 Comments

Introducing Immigration - Part 2

3/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Introducing Immigration // GrowingLittleLeaves.comIntroducing Immigration - Part 2
In last week's post, I talked about how I used the children's book, Watch the Stars Come Out to introduce the concept of immigration to my children.  Today, we went a step further and did a little map exercise to help them put a more visual component to the concept.  

I found a world map that came free with one of my National Geographic subscriptions, and I pinned it to a wall, making sure that it was at a height at which the kids could see and interact with it.  The rest of the supplies consisted of different colored yarn or string, tape, scissors and pushpins.  

First, I helped the kids identify the United States on the map, and we found the city in which we live. Because we watched some of the recent Olympics, they sort of understand what a different country is, and I explained that, on the map, the countries are shown in different colors.  Then, I pointed out Europe, we got out our pushpins, and talked about where each grandparent's ancestors came from. (To introduce the concept of an ancestor to your child, see this post.)

We put pushpins on each European country where their ancestors came from - Germany, France, Italy, Croatia, and Poland. (Supervise the kids closely with the pushpins; you could even use small stickers instead, if you are worried about them getting hurt.) My kids are pretty much European mutts, but even if your family's ancestors originated from one nation, this is still a fun and educational activity to do with kids.  At one point, my son asked me, "Why aren't we putting any pins here (*points to China*) or here (*points to Russia*)," and I explained to him that if our family HAD come from those parts of the world, we WOULD put them there, but that's just not the case for us.

The next step was to place pushpins in America as the ancestors' "final destination."  If you want to keep it simple, you can place one pin in America and that is fine. However, I wanted my kids to understand that the ship couldn't land in the middle of the country (Ohio) where our ancestors ended up - I wanted them to realize that it had to stop at the coastline. So, we put pins in the port cities where the ships landed - New Orleans, Baltimore, New York.  

Then, we connected the European push pins to the American push pins with yarn.  We used a different color to represent the different 'branches' of our family. We divided it up by their four grandparents.  I created a map 'key' so we would know which color matched which grandparent. (My 6yo can read this key, but I think I may add small photos of each grandparent, so my 3yo can know which color represents which grandparent, too.)  This portion of the exercise was a bit more ambitious than it needed to be, and it is not necessary to go into such detail, especially with younger kids.  Using just one color of yarn for all ancestors will work just fine, if you want to keep it simple.

Introducing Immigration // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
And, finally, I cut out little paper ships and attached them to a couple of the yarn strands.  As my son said, we made little "zip lines" for the ships.  I included one sailing ship and one steamship, and explained that, "Daddy's ancestors came to America on sailing ships and Mommy's ancestors came here on steamships, because they came at different times."  He was actually pretty interested in the details of ship technology, and wanted to know a bit more about it than I could tell him just off the top of my head!
Introducing Immigration // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Introducing Immigration // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Introducing Immigration // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
At this point, I don't expect my kids to remember where Poland or Germany is the next time they look at a map, BUT even just getting kids to look at maps and to realize that they represent much larger spaces and land masses is an important step in geography education.  The activity got my son interested in historical travel, and I think it's important for young kids to realize that people didn't always travel long distances by airplane, like they do today. I'm going to leave the map up indefinitely, so they can look at it and 'play' with it whenever they feel like it.  (I put it up it next to our family history wall that I created last year, so, hopefully, as the kids get older, they will transition right from this little world map to the more detailed maps, books, and postcards that tell our family's story.)

Within my map stash, I also found a larger wall map of just the United States.  At some point, I'd like to hang that one up, too, and maybe talk with the kids about HOW and WHY our family ended up in Ohio.  We could again use push pins and yarn to connect the port cities to Ohio, and talk about the different types of transportation people used before cars, and even before trains, in the case of several of my husband's ancestral families.  

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder. 
Print Friendly and PDF
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
0 Comments

Introducing Immigration - Part 1

3/3/2014

0 Comments

 
Whether your ancestors came to America with the conquistadors, or on the Mayflower, or as late as the early 20th century, chances are that some part of your family history involves taking that long boat ride over from the 'Old World.'  Recently, I've been thinking of ways to introduce this concept to my kids (ages 6 and 3 1/2).  I have a few ideas that I am going to try and then share in a series of blog posts.  

Over the weekend, as a simple introduction to the subject, I read them a book entitled Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson, illustrated by Diane Goode, published by Puffin.  The book tells the story of a young girl and her brother who travel across the ocean to America, where their mother, father and older sister are already living.
Introducing Immigration // GrowingLittleLeaves.com
Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson
I read the book first to my 3.5 year old daughter, and then separately to my 6 year old son.  The book is short enough that my daughter was able to sit through the whole thing, and she actually did a good job of listening and paying attention. She really enjoyed the illustrations, which suit the story well. They are detailed enough to give children a good sense of what the difficult journey was like, but not threatening. The peoples' faces show a lot of emotion and expression, but there is still a sort of child-like quality in which they are drawn that makes them easier for kids to relate to.

When I finished reading it to my daughter, I told her, "My grandma came on a boat like this when she was a little girl.  She was Italian and from a country called Italy."  My daughter then asked me if she came to visit me, and I told her she came a long time before I was born.  Time and thinking of events in the distant past are SUCH difficult concepts to get little kids to understand, so her questions were normal for her age, I think.  Interestingly, my husband later asked her if she knew where our family came from and she said, "So Italian."  So Italian is the name of a local restaurant that we sometimes eat at. I got a good chuckle out of that, but it also means that she actually listened to at least part of what I was talking to her about.

Obviously, my older son was better able to understand the story and could read a little more into some of the hardships that the book introduced.  The children in the story traveled without their parents, only an 'old lady' who was asked to watch over them. (The old lady later falls ill and dies on the trip. We talk about death pretty openly in our house, but if you don't think your child is ready for that much realism, you can just say that she gets sick and can no longer care for them.)  I asked my son, "Do you think you'd like to travel that far without your mom and dad?"  Of course he said no, but I pointed out that some children had to do that.  The story mentioned how long it took to make the voyage (23 days), and we actually looked at his calendar and counted out the days.  He definitely had a better sense of time than my three year old.  There is a scene where the immigrant children are being examined by a nurse, and I told him that they made the sick people stay in special buildings until they got better.  He also recognized the Statue of Liberty in one of the illustrations and told me that they had talked about it in school (he is in Kindergarten).

One question my kids did NOT ask was WHY people came to America.  I find this incredibly ironic because they typically ask 'Why?' when it comes to nearly every other aspect of life.  Anyway, I think even little kids can understand reasons like, "They needed to find a job," or "There wasn't enough to eat," or "They already knew people who lived here."  Next time we read this book, I will address the subject with my kids, if they don't ask again.

The next step in this investigation is to pull out the maps.  If you are ambitious and think your child could handle it, you could probably use an atlas while reading this book and talk more specifically where YOUR family emigrated from.  I have decided to go in smaller steps and just read the story first.  So, look for at least one (probably more) map-related blog post from me in the near future. :-)

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder. All rights reserved.​
Print Friendly and PDF
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
0 Comments

    Emily Kowalski Schroeder

    Founder and Author of Growing Little Leaves

    Emily Kowalski Schroeder / Founder and Author of GrowingLittleLeaves.com

    Categories

    All
    Ancestors
    Ancestor Worksheets
    Archiving
    Books
    Cemeteries
    Charts
    Colors
    Conferences
    Drawing
    Editorials
    Fashion
    Games
    Hands On
    Heirlooms
    Holidays
    Immigration
    Interviewing
    Maps
    Math
    Movies
    Newspapers
    Occupations
    Photos
    Programming
    Roleplay
    Science
    Storytelling
    Surnames
    Technology
    Timelines
    Tracing
    Vocabulary
    Writing

Home

About

Mission & Philosophy

Activities

Printables

Resources

Contact