Preparation:

This lesson resulted from a project that allowed each sixth grade student from the five middle and K-8 schools in the Dearborn system to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts to see the Rivera murals.
Their tour of Rivera Court was followed by a cooperative learning exercise in the museum's Art Studio. Click to see the Collaborative Clay "Machines" lesson plans. After they returned to the classroom, Bryant Middle School students participated in a group art project similar to the Layers of Meaning Mural Project, also based on Rivera Court.

These activities are designed to help students develop an understanding of America as a mosaic of diverse peoples, making our nation culturally unique.

This activity focuses on a theme within the Rivera murals of representation of diverse races and the unification of many races into one American culture, helping to create a true picture of the United States as a nation of natives and immigrants, all the stronger for its extraordinary cultural, ethnic, racial, and religious diversity. Yet the celebration of immigration has often coexisted with distrust among many groups. In the United States, ethnic, cultural, racial, and religious groups retain their heritage and simultaneously merge into a large American melting pot. It is this diversity that has given the United States uniqueness and strength.

Resources:

Kids Discover: Immigrants. New York: Kids Discover, 1998.
One issue in a periodical series, this issue focuses on the history of American immigration. Very kid-friendly. Colorful with a lot of interesting graphs, charts, and photos. Upper elementary.