Ellis Island Day

At Katelyn's school the entire third grade does a long, intense unit on immigration. The kids have to do a lot of research into their back grounds and complete many projects based on their family history.
It was fun and interesting but a lot of work, for her and us!
To end the unit they have "Ellis Island Day" and reenact the ships coming into Ellis Island with immigrants from many different countries. Katelyn came from Poland.

Thanks to Chris' cousin, Colleen, Katelyn had the perfect outfit for the day!

She packed her pillowcase with the items she needed on her journey from Poland to America. She had her passport, money (not much since she was very poor), documents from Poland, a stuffed animal, a book about Poland, and a picture of the family she left behind. (The picture was one we had taken a couple years ago and I changed the coloring to look old.) She also brought "mini polish sausages" to share with her class.

When the boats (buses) arrived at Ellis Island (the school) the kids had to stand in a very long line waiting to be admitted in America. They had to answer a lot of questions and if they didn't answer correctly they were deported back to the country they came from (the end of the line).

Katelyn was deported once because she didn't answer a question right and was almost deported a second time when she coughed, since they didn't want people coming into the country that possibly had a disease.

It really was a wonderful unit and we learned quite a bit about Poland. If the other three kids chose to come from Poland as well we will be pretty set but they may end up choosing another country and we will be learning a lot more!

Katelyn loved Ellis Island day!