Archive for the 'Field Trip' Category

Some things we learned on our trip to Ellis Island:

Old Country and Journey

• Money from the old countries came in all shapes and sizes.
• You were inspected before you came by the steamship company so they would not have to pay for you to go back.
• Some steamship companies required you to come three days early for inspection.
• If you were under 16 you had to have $25 to enter alone or you had to be with an adult.
• People came from places with very different sorts of cultures.  (For example, the case of baby shoes from different places.)

Arrival

• Some of the mental tests were unfair because they assumed experiences the immigrants hadn’t had. For example,  people who had never drawn before were asked to draw a diamond.
• There was testing for trachoma as it was so contagious (especially before antibiotics).
• They had reading and writing tests in many different languages.
• There were money exchanges.
• They put chalk marks on people to indicate something was wrong.  Each mark had a special meaning.
• If you were detained it was in another area behind a fence. Some people were separated from families.
• The dormitories were people were detained were crowded with three levels of beds. Sometimes they ran out of beds and people ended sleeping on benches or even the floor.
• They served the women and children milk, but not the men.
• If a child under 16 was sent back an adult had to go with them.

Your walking tour of the Lower East Side takes place on Tuesday, December 2nd. We will leave after math class and take a bus to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.  After our program there you will meet the parents who are coming along at the museum’s visitor’s center and head off on your walking tour.

Your job during this two hour tour is to see what you can discover about immigration past and present in this area.  Be sure to take notes, photos, and collect business cards, flyers, menus and anything else that may give you more information.  You will use all of this back in school for our online guide book.

Each group has been assigned a lunch stop and one other place to visit.  Remember what Pauline Frommer told us about her research for guide books. It is important for you to see what you can learn about the restaurant  for others.  (Don’t just say it is “yummy.” Give us a sense of what it is like and what the food is like for others — even those whose taste may be different from yours.)

Groups are also encouraged to see what other places are along the route that we may want to add to the guide book. Keep your eyes peeled, cameras ready, and pencils on standby! There are all sorts of interesting shops, buildings (especially ones that have gone from one use to another — say a synagogue that is now a church), and monuments.  You are the first class to do this map and so we are counting on you to make it really worthwhile for others to use!

Everyone should go to these two places before or after lunch depending on how close your restaurant is to them.

• Guss’s Pickles
• Economy Candy

Here are the group assignments:

Group 1

• Angel Orensanz Synagogue
• Katz’s
• Dessert place of your choice

Group 2

• Essex Street Market
• El Castillo De Jaqua
• Dessert place of your choice

Group 3

• St. Patrick’s Cathedral
• Mexican Restaurant
• Dessert place of your choice

Group 4

• Buddist Temple
• Kebab House
• Dessert place of your choice