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.

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Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade

Listen Closely to an Oral History

Teach using an oral history from the child of Italian immigrants in the 1930s.

Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade

View 1980’s Garment Factory Footage

Teach about community action through a 1980’s video of a Chinatown garment factory.

Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade

Respond to an Oral History

Students chart parts of their identity before listening to an oral history from the...

Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade

Inspect an 1870’s Charity Ledger

Students learn about a German community that worked together through an 1870’s Charity...

Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade

Analyze A Video Interview

Students consider what it means to be American through media seen by a 1950’s refugee...

Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade

Examine a 1910 Census

Teach students about labor movements with the 1910 census and a 16-year old...

Tools for Educators

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

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