Project Overview

Second and third-grade students at Allen-Field School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin created this timely and beautiful bilingual book with their own personal immigration stories.

First of all, students knew they would create an art piece that illustrated their familial immigration story. This creation would show their understanding of this particular theme of immigration. Throughout the school year, students learned about what high-quality museums look like by visiting different museums in the Midwest. Additionally, students learned questioning techniques in order to conduct interviews with their families by working with professional artists and storytellers with the support of Arts @ Large, Inc., a local arts education non-profit organization. 

Afterward, the students received instruction by Gilberto Botello, an Arts @ Large local artist, to illustrate their stories. Lastly, they had the opportunity to display their final product to their community. The collection of immigration stories in this book represents the actual journey of Latino immigrant children and their families from their country of origin. Their stories tell part of their journey to the United States from a unique perspective. They represent struggles, loss, dreams, and hopes of a better future.

Our Immigration Stories is the second product students created on the topic of immigration. The first was a school museum called Immigration Through the Eyes of Children. Teachers implemented a framework called Kid Curators, which reframes curricular units as museum design projects. Throughout the school year, students learned about what high-quality museums look like by visiting different museums in the Midwest. They then created their own museum which was on display at their school and later at the Arts @ Large Gallery.