CU6-4


 * __Topic of lesson:__** **Jews on the Frontier**
 * __Activities:__ Gain the attention of the learner. Ask them to name places in the United States where they think Jewish people emigrated to in the 19th century. Tell them that some Jewish people came “out West” as merchants, gold rushers, settlers, hat salesman and cattle farmers.**
 * Relevant past learning: We know that Jewish people came to the US for a lot of different reasons from a lot of different places. Talk about the fact that they were looking for opportunities and were trying to balance their Jewish identity with being American (recall Jews in New Amsterdam and Jews in revolutionary America). They had to get along with Jews and other people who spoke different languages and had different custons.**
 * Practice: Divide the class into 2 groups. Each group will work from a different worksheet based from June Levitt Nislick’s historical fiction “Zayda Was a Cowboy.” One group has a sheet that traces Meyer ben Yehezkiel from his shtetl in Russia to the ship that takes him to America. The other group traces Meyer Benson (the new name he gives to himself) from his arrival in Galveston Texas to his work as a cowboy on a ranch with Mexican immigrants.**
 * Both groups are given a reflective worksheet to fill out on their own. They then discuss their responses and prepare a skit.**
 * Each group presents its skit to the other and then we pull the discussion together as a class with summary and reflection.**


 * Documents: Worksheet (kids should read this first) and two role plays.**