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!

Video-halo-shampoo
Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade

Halo Shampoo Ad

Watch a TV shampoo advertisement from the 1950’s and consider the messages.

Video-Jose-spanish
Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade

José discusses Spanish channels On TV

Watch a migrant from Puerto Rico, José Velez, tell us how he maintained his Spanish in...

Oral-History-Jose
Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade

Memory from José About Helping His Mom

Listen to a migrant from Puerto Rico, José Velez, remember an important rule he had to...

Document-1870-census
Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade

1870 Census

Students find 8-10 facts about the people in this building 150 years ago. Who is the...

Document-1910-census
Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade

1910 Census

See the type of work an immigrant family from the early 20th century, The Rogarshevksys,...

Photo-Kastoria-postcard
High School: 9-12th Grade, Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade

Kastoria Postcard c. 1900

Postcard of the city of Kastoria, Greece in 1900.

Photo-1898-orchard-street
Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade, Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade

1898 Photograph of Orchard Street

Imagine the sights, smells, and sounds of the lower east side in 1898.

Photo-confino-family-1913
Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade, Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade

Confino Family Photograph, 1913

See portrait of the Confino family shortly after they were reunited in New York City after...

Document-1900-census
Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade, Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade

1900 Census

Gather information about the Levines, a family who immigrated from the Russian Empire in...

Document-1923-ship-manifest
Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade

1923 Ship Passenger Manifest

Find Adolfo Baldizzi, an immigrant from Italy, on this 1923 Ship Manifest.

Oral-History-Allison-Wong
Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade

Alison Talks About Watching TV

Hear Alison Wong, who came to the United States from China as a baby, talk about...

Oral-History-Bella
Lower Elementary: 1-3rd Grade, Upper Elementary: 4-5th Grade, Middle School: 6-8th Grade, High School: 9-12th Grade

Bella Discusses Paul Anka

Listen to Bella Epstein, a child of refugees, discuss the music heard in her 1950’s...

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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