Lesson Plans

With Tenement Museum resources, students become historians. Using our teacher-designed, teacher-tested lesson plans, students engage in inquiry and learn to use critical thinking to interpret objects, oral histories, and primary sources, while making history relevant to today. Our classroom resources support multi-state History-Social Studies and English Language Arts curricula and can be used with or without a museum visit.

We currently offer four kinds of resources for teachers, including unit plans, lesson plans, and family stories. Whichever resource you select, you will find primary sources such as video stories, oral histories, documents, and photos in each. Educators can sort by grade level, unit plan, lesson plan, family stories, or primary source type below.

Be sure to check out our new comprehensive suite of virtual field trips and sign up for our monthly teacher’s newsletter for tips from other teachers, event and webinar information, new resources, and more!

1910 Census - Interactive
All Grades

Interactive: Explore a 1910 Census

Interact with a primary source and explore the life of an early 20th-century Jewish...

Interactive: Meet Bridget Moore
All Grades

Interactive: Meet Bridget Moore

"Choose-your-own-adventure" style interactive video that explores the traditions and...

Interactive Video: Bella Discusses Halo Shampoo
All Grades

Interactive Video: Bella Discusses Halo Shampoo

Interactive video interview that explores themes of American identity from the Epstein...

Interactive: Saez Velez Family Story Crossword
All Grades

Interactive: Saez Velez Family Story Crossword

Interactive crossword puzzle that reviews im/migrant vocabulary and facts from the Saez...

Interactive: Passing Down Traditions
All Grades

Interactive: Passing Down Traditions

Interactive guided lesson for all grades exploring immigrant family traditions.

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Upper Elementary

Upper Elementary Im/migration Unit Plan

Full unit resource for studying immigration and migration in your classroom.

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All Grades

Defining Immigration and Migration

Explore students’ prior knowledge of im/migration with a contemporary photograph.

LessonPlans_Lesson_ExplorePushAndPullFactors_v1
Upper Elementary

Explore Push and Pull Factors

Chart and discuss push and pull factors for im/migration.

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All Grades

Developing a Timeline

Construct a timeline for the study of im/migration in your classroom.

LessonPlans_IntrotoPrimarySources
All Grades

Introduction to Primary Sources

Define “primary sources” and analyze one contemporary and one historic source.

LessonPlans_InvestigateA1914ReportCard
All Grades

Investigate a 1914 Report Card

Students learn about Victoria Confino through her 2nd grade report card from 1913.

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All Grades

Examine a Factory Inspection Report

Explore how im/migrants get started through an actual factory inspection report from 1892.

Tools for Educators

Visit our Teacher Resources page for more tools, programs and information that can enrich learning and understanding about immigration and migration.

Learn More

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