Ms. Fuller and Ms. Diana's SS Blog

Once immigrants made it through Ellis Island, they had to find jobs and a place to live. Many immigrants found these things through family members who had already settled in America or through other people from the “homeland.”  Many large immigrant communities were formed in NYC during this time period, particularly in the Lower East Side.  People lived in apartment buildings called tenements.  Today you will be exploring the history of one tenement building and some of the families who lived in it.

STEPS:

1. Click on the link to go on the virtual tour of the LES Tenement Museum: http://www.tenement.org/Virtual_Tour/index_virtual.html

2. Take your time reading the text and really looking at all of the images (what do you see? what can you infer?).

3. Explore all of the links.

4. After you have looked through the whole exhibit, choose one family to focus on:  Gumpertz, Rogarshevsky, Confino, Baldizzi, Levine.  Answer the following questions in complete sentences in your NB.

5. Who were the members of the family who lived in the apt?

6. Where did the family immigrate from (what was there home country)?

7. How did the family make a living?

8. Would you say they had an easy life or a hard life?  Why? (Give specific examples from the tour)

9. Would you say that America offered this family opportunity?  Why or why not? (Give specific examples from the tour)

If you finish answering the questions about one family, you may choose another family for extra credit.

Today will be your final day of general research on the topic of child labor.  On Monday, you will get your position assignments (for or against child labor) for the debate, and next Tuesday (12/2), we will begin debate.

YOUR TASK:

Click on the following link: http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org/index.html

Once on the page, you will see “Stories:” on the left and then a list of names.  These are the names of photographers who have each put together online photo exhibitions about child labor. You are responsible for looking at all of their exhibitions today and adding the information that you find in those exhibitions to your notes. “Read” the photos (what do you see? what can you infer?) and read the captions.

Think and write about:

- What are the different jobs that children do?

- In which countries are these children working?

- What are the working conditions like for these children?

- Where do you think their parents are? How do you think they feel about their children working?

- What do you think the governments of the countries where these children are working think about child labor?

- What do you think governments should do about child labor?  Should they regulate it (make laws limiting it) or ban it?  Why?

Use the link below to access the UN Child Labor Briefing Paper:

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/labour/index.htm

We’ve been thinking hard about our essential question for this unit, “Did the Civil War move America towards its ideals?” I think we can all agree that though America may have moved a little closer to the ideal that “all men are created equal,” it didn’t reach that goal after the Civil War. There was still a definite lack of equality between different groups of people in the U.S.

Take a moment to think about everything that you’ve learned about the Civil War and Reconstruction.  What people, events, or actions do you think made a positive impact on history?  What people, events, or actions do you think made a negative impact on history?  What do you think SHOULD HAVE happened after the Civil War?  How could America have moved even closer to its ideals? 

Discuss the following question:

Did Reconstruction (Freedmen’s Bureau, Sharecropping, Black Codes, and the 15th Amendment) move America towards its ideals (”All men are created equal”)?

Use specific evidence/examples from the readings that we’ve done.

If you aren’t sure about something, ask questions.

If you can answer someone’s question, do it.

Welcome to your Social Studies blog!

We’re starting off the year by studying the United States Civil War and Reconstruction.

Our Essential Question for this unit is: Did the Civil War move America towards its ideals?

Our assessment for this unit will be a persuasive essay