Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
Ellis Island Research Project
You are going to take a tour of Ellis Island. You are going to see and hear what it was
like to be an immigrant arriving at Ellis Island during the late 1800 to mid 1900’s. Follow
the directions below and answer the questions for each stop along your tour.
You are a historian “digging” for facts about what people experienced on Ellis Island.
You are going to visit all the different rooms at Ellis Island. You will listen to Immigrants
give their accounts as to what happened to them at Ellis Island. Once you have
gathered all of your evidence you will than have to answer a series of questions about
Ellis Island.
Follow the directions below to start your historic “dig”
Getting to the website
1. Open your Internet browser. (ie. Foxfire, Explorer)
2. Type in the address
www.teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour
3. Begin your tour.
Your notes do not have to be in complete sentences but your short answer and
journal entries do have to be in complete sentences.
Once you have gotten to the website you may begin visiting the rooms of Ellis Island.
You may write your notes on the pages of this packet.
This project is due ____________________________
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
Ellis Island- The Interactive Tour
1. How many Americans can trace their ancestry back to Ellis Island?
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2. How many Immigrants went through Ellis Island and what were their jobs?
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3. When did Ellis Island open?
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4. How long was Ellis Island in operation?
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Once you have answer the question above:
Click on Start the Tour
Ellis Island- Stop 1 The Passage
5. Most immigrants that came to Ellis lsland were from what parts of Europe?
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6. How long did the trip from Europe to American take?
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7. What does steerage mean?
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8. What was it like to be in the steerage class of the ship?
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Click on the photo
9. While on the boat how did immigrants pass the time?
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
Click on the next arrow
Ellis Island- The Arrival
10. What was it like on the ship?
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11. What was the first thing that immigrants saw to let them know they were in America?
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Click on did you know
12. Who was the first person to enter Ellis Island and where were they from?
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13. What groups of immigrants did not have to go through Ellis Island?
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Click on the Audio
14. Who is speaking? ____________________________________________
15. Where did they come from? ___________________________________
16. When did they come to Ellis Island? ____________________________
17. How old were they when they came to Ellis Island? ____________________
18. What was it like riding steerage on a ship?
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19. On the ship, what did Lawrence Meinwald and his father do to get food?
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20. How did the immigrants react to the Statue of Liberty?
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21. When Lawrence first saw the Statue of Liberty, what did he think?
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
Click on the next arrow
Ellis Island- Spot 3- The baggage room
22. What did officers give immigrants as they got off the ship?
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23. What happened in the Baggage Room?
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24. Where did immigrants go to after the baggage room?
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Click on Audio:
25. Who is speaking?____________________________________________
26. Where did they come from? ___________________________________
27. When did they come to Ellis Island? ____________________________
28. How old were they when they came to Ellis Island? ____________________
29. According to Manny what was it like at Ellis Island?
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30. What information was put on the tags?
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Click on the next arrow.
Ellis Island: Spot 4 Stairway to the Registry Room
31. Why did doctors watch immigrants as the walked up the stairs to the Registry
Room?
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Click on Did you know
32. What is the most immigrants to go through Ellis Island in a single day?
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
33. How long did it take to go through the admittance process on Ellis Island?
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Click on the next arrow
Ellis Island-Spot 5 –The Registry room
34. What is the nickname for the Registry Room?
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35. How big was the Great Hall?
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36. What took place in the Great Hall?
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Click on Audio:
37. Who is speaking? ____________________________________________
38. Where did they come from? ___________________________________
39. When did they come to Ellis Island? ____________________________
40. How old were they when they came to Ellis Island? ____________________
41. What problem did Lucy’s parents have with the immigration officer?
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42. How did the immigration officer solve the problem with her parents?
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43. How did Lucy get back with her parents?
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Click on the next arrow
44. What was the six-second medical exam?
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
45. As people were walking up the stairs to the Registry room, the doctors preformed
these six-second medical exams. What were the doctors looking for?
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46. What did a chalk mark on an immigrant’s jacket mean?
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47. What happened to immigrants who had a chalk mark on their clothing?
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48. Immigrants that didn’t have a chalk mark where would they go?
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Click on did you know
49. Those immigrants who did not have contagious diseases, where were they sent?
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50. How long was an average stay in the Ellis Island hospital?
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Click on Photos then on the picture Chalk Markings
51. When written on an immigrant, what did the following chart marks mean?
L=
CT=
S=
C=
G=
P=
Click on audio:
52. Who is speaking? ____________________________________________
53. Where did they come from? ___________________________________
54. When did they come to Ellis Island? ____________________________
55. How old were they when they came to Ellis Island? ____________________
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
56. Where did Rachel’s mother get her shoes?
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57. What problem did the doctors think Rachel’s mother had?
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58. What caused the mother’s problem?
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Click on the next arrow
Ellis Island the Stop 7-Legal Inspection
59. What is a manifest?
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60. How many questions were immigrants asked before they came into the country?
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61. How would the inspector know if the immigrant was lying?
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Click on did you know
62. After WWI, how did immigration laws change?
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Click on the Audio
63. Who is speaking? ____________________________________________
64. Where did they come from? ___________________________________
65. When did they come to Ellis Island? ____________________________
66. How old were they when they came to Ellis Island? ____________________
67. Why did Paul Laric and his family have to wait 3 weeks in the Great Hall?
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
68. How was the Great Hall described?
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69. Where did men and women sleep in the Great Hall?
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Click on the next arrow
Ellis Island-Spot 8 Detainees
70. Why would some immigrants call Ellis Island the “Isle of Tears”?
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71. How long might a detainee have to wait on Ellis Island?
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72. Detainees would have their cases heard in the hearing room. What might be some
reasons someone is detained?
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Click on did you know
73. How many babies were born in Ellis Island?
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Click on the next arrow
Ellis Island-Spot 9 The Stairs of Separation
74. If immigrants went down the center stairs where were they going?
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75. If immigrants went down the left stairs where were they going?
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76. If immigrants went down the right stairs where were they going?
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77. What was at the bottom of the stairs?
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
Click on did you know
78. What did immigrants do at the Money Exchange office?
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79. How many languages were spoken at Ellis Island?
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Click on Audio
80 Who is speaking? ____________________________________________
81. Where did they come from? ___________________________________
82. When did they come to Ellis Island? ____________________________
83. How old were they when they came to Ellis Island? ____________________
84. What did immigrants need in order to get into the United States?
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85. Why did immigrants not always have the $20 to enter the country?
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86. How were immigrants able to get money to prove they had the $20 they needed to
get into America?
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87. Why did Manny say it was a racket for immigrants to try to get $20?
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Click on the next arrow
Ellis Island- Stop 10 –The kissing post
88. Why did immigration staff call the gate the kissing post?
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Click on Audio
89. Who is speaking? ____________________________________________
90. Where did they come from? ___________________________________
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
91. When did they come to Ellis Island? ____________________________
92. How old were they when they came to Ellis Island? ____________________
93. What were Estelle and her family doing when the officials called their name?
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94. What did Estelle’s brother do with the meat?
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95. Who was waiting for Estelle at the kissing post?
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96. How did Estelle react to her father?
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97. What did Estelle’s father say to her mother?
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Now that you have finished your investigation, answer the questions below using your
notes and your knowledge of social studies.
1. What countries did immigrants come from? (list all the countries from your notes)
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2. What is steerage and what was it like?
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3. Why were immigrants watched as they went up the stairs to the Great Hallway?
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
4. Choose one of the following and define the illness and it’s syptoms.
Senility
Conjunctivitis
Goiter
Trachoma
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5. What percentage of Americans can trace their ancestry to Ellis Island? So if there
are 25 students in a classroom, how many can trace their ancestry to Ellis
Island?
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6. Many of the immigrants that were interviewed described the sights, sounds and
smells of Ellis Island. You are to write a letter or journal entry using those
sensory descriptions.
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Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
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7. Ellis Island is often called Island of Hope and Island of Tears. Giving examples
prove why immigrants often called Ellis Island this.
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© This document may not be reproduced in any manner without the written consent of the author. clmurphy
Virtual Tour of Ellis Island
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© This document may not be reproduced in any manner without the written consent of the author. clmurphy
© This document may not be reproduced in any manner without the written consent of the author. clmurphy