5 1 5 immigrant children in new york city TG

Immigrant Children
in New York City

5.1.5
CAUSE AND EFFECT
SUMMARIZE

In the early 1900s, many families
traveled to the United States looking for a
better life. These families faced difficult times.
Immigrant children had a hard time learning or
having fun. Their parents worked hard to give
them safe places to play and learn.

READ THE BOOK

LESSON VOCABULARY

STRATEGY SUPPORT: SUMMARIZE

SUMMARY

advice
circumstances
hustled
luxury
peddler

advised
elbow
immigrants

newcomer

INTRODUCE THE BOOK
INTRODUCE THE TITLE AND AUTHOR Discuss

with
students the title and the author of Immigrant
Children in New York City. Based on the title, ask
students what kind of information they think
this book will provide. Tell students that this
is a nonfiction book. Ask them to name other
nonfiction books they have read.
BUILD BACKGROUND Discuss with students
what challenges they think immigrant children
might have had. Ask them to think about how
they may have felt in a new situation, like the
first day of school or moving to a new house.
Remind them that these children had little
money and education. They may not even
have been able to speak English, read, or
write.

SET PURPOSE

Have students set a purpose for
reading Immigrant Children in New York City.
As they read, encourage them to think about
the causes and effects of immigration on the
children.

Remind
students that to summarize means to briefly
tell what happened in a story. Have students
review the main ideas in the story that
they wrote down. Ask them to write a short
summary of the entire book, based on their
notes of the most important parts.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PAGE 6

What caused immigrants to move to
America? (desire for more money and a better
life)
PAGE 7

Look at the photo and read the
caption. What does this tell you about
immigrants’ living conditions? (conditions were
poor)
PAGE 10 How did immigrant parents teach
their children about their heritage? (They
taught them songs, told stories, and celebrated
holidays by cooking traditional dishes.)
PAGE 18 What did Alice and Irene Lewisohn do
to improve the Lower East Side? (They opened
a playhouse.)

PREVIEW/USE TEXT FEATURES

Ask students to
review the photos and captions in the book.
As a class, discuss what students think they
will learn from the book. Record some of their
ideas to confirm predictions after reading.

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REVISIT THE BOOK
READER RESPONSE

1. Possible response: What They Did: gave
advice to people from Lower East Side,
opened a theater, built a playground. What
Happened: those people were able to persuade their landlords to improve their buildings, gave them a chance to see famous
plays. Children had a safe place to play.
2. Possible response: improved apartment
living by making fire safety, ventilation, and
plumbing better; it helped stop spread of
diseases.
3. immigrants and newcomers; sentences will
vary.
4. Answers will vary. Students should mention

specific objects that they see in the
photos, such as apartment features.
EXTEND UNDERSTANDING

Ask students to look
at the photographs in the book. Have them
point to specific photos and explain how they
help them better understand the story.

RESPONSE OPTIONS
WRITING

Have students write a short journal
entry as if they were immigrant children
arriving in America. Ask them to write about
the sights and sounds around them and how
they feel being in this new place.

SOCIAL STUDIES
CONNECTION
Encourage students
to learn more about
immigrant children arriving
at Ellis Island in New York or Angel
Island in California. Suggest they find a book
or Internet article on immigration in the late
nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
Invite students to present their research to
the class and discuss how immigration might
be similar and different today.

Skill Work
TEACH/REVIEW VOCABULARY
Review vocabulary words and their definitions with students. Have volunteers write a
silly sentence on the board correctly using
one vocabulary word. Repeat this with all the
vocabulary words.

TARGET SKILL AND STRATEGY
CAUSE AND EFFECT Remind students that
cause tells why something happened and
effect tells what happened. As students
read the book, have them list reasons why
immigrants came to the United States.
Suggest that they use a graphic organizer to
list the causes of immigration.

Have students fill in a graphic organizer showing the causes and effects of
immigration.
SUMMARIZE

Remind students that to
summarize means to briefly tell what happened in a story. Have students list the
main ideas in the story as they read.

ADDITIONAL SKILL INSTRUCTION
GRAPHIC SOURCES

Review examples of
graphic sources with students, including

charts, graphs, diagrams, etc. Remind
students that graphic sources help a reader
better understand text. Graphic sources are
also a valuable part of previewing a text
because they give clues about the text’s
topic. Have students go though the book
and find the graphic sources. Ask them what
these sources tell them about the book’s
topic.

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Immigrant Children

Name

Cause and Effect
• A cause tells why something happened.
• An effect tells what happened.

Directions Use the information in the chart to answer the questions below.

Causes

Effects

Causes of Immigration
better life
more money
better education

Effects of Immigration
little money
little education
had to work hard
nowhere to safely play

1. What caused many immigrant children to work so hard?

2. What effect did education have on immigrant children?

3. What effects did new playgrounds have on immigrant children?

5. What caused overcrowded schools?

© Pearson Education 5

4. What caused parents to take their children from their homes and move them to America?

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Immigrant Children

Name

Vocabulary
Directions Complete each sentence with a word from the word box.

Check the Words You Know
advice
elbow
luxury

1. The

advised
hustled
newcomer

circumstances
immigrants
peddler

sold us wood.

2. We were

by the bad salesman.

3. Her good

helped him get a job.

4. The

of his arrival were mysterious.

5. The

of a house was a dream of ours.

6. The

asked us directions.

7. We

the boy not to talk to strangers.

8. A basketball player should never
9. The

another player.

were anxious to get to the new country.

Directions Write the vocabulary word that is a synonym for each pair of words.
10. shove, nudge
11. tricked, cheated

12. opinions, guidance
13. happenings, situations

© Pearson Education 5

14. wealth, comfort
15. beginner, novice
16. colonists, settlers
17. dealer, merchant
18. directed, counseled
Directions Select two vocabulary words and use each in a sentence below.
19.

20.

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