1. When Jessie Came Across the Sea Resources to learn more: Immigration Record for 1903 Immigrants Getting to Ellis Island Ellis Island Interview with Immigrant Nikki Laird – Rock Hill, South Carolina – Winthrop University – 2011 Author: Amy Hest When Jessie Came Across the Sea Candlewick Press, 1997 Book Summary: Jessie gets the chance to immigrate to America to work as a seamstress in her aunt’s shop, but she has to leave her beloved grandmother, so she works for three years to save up money to bring her grandmother over as well. Setting: New York City during immigration in the 1900s. Objective: Students will analyze what it was like to be an immigrant in the early 1900s.

2. What’s It Like On the Ship? Pretend you are coming to America on the ship with Jessie in the early 1900s. Write a journal entry telling what a normal day is like on the ship. Does anyone speak your language? Who do you talk to? How do you pass the time?

3. Who are you? Imagine you have just arrived in Ellis Island. You are being inspected and questioned. Write a paragraph or two giving a little background on you. Where are you from? What language do you speak? What’s your occupation? Can you read and write? Etc.

4. How would you raise money? Imagine you are working at the dress shop with Jessie. You need more business so you can save money to bring your family over. Make an advertisement for the dress shop so people know about your lace wedding dresses and the other things you make.

5. Standards NCSS III People, Places, and Environments South Carolina Standard 5-3 The student will demonstrate an understanding of major domestic and foreign developments that contributed to the United States’ becoming a world power. 5-3.4 Summarize the significance of large-scale immigration and the contributions of immigrants to America in the early 1900s, including the countries from which they came, the opportunities and resistance they faced when they arrived, and the cultural and economic contributions they made to this nation.

6. References Inspection Room at Ellis Island Ship Arriving at Ellis Island Wedding Dress