BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Fourth grade students at Elmwood Franklin School performed an original play Thursday afternoon about immigration.

"Journey to America" featured a collection of monologues and poems written and performed by the students about what immigrants face and experience.

Their performances were inspired by first-hand accounts and interviews, journals and letters from immigrants across history.

"It's difficult sometimes to get a fourth grader to be a little bit more serious but when we talk in class and the lessons we do in class and we talk about how many of their ancestors came to their country for very serious reasons, they did a wonderful job and were able to focus on it," said Leigh Mikulka, a fourth grade teacher at Elmwood Franklin School. "They did a beautiful job!"

Students also visited Lafayette International High School to speak to 30 students who are immigrants and refugees from countries like Tanzania, Egypt, Nepal, Bangladesh, Syria, Congo and Afghanistan about moving to the United States.