Lately in science 4th graders have been studying chemistry and the reactions of different things to red cabbage juice. We are seeing if they are a base, an acid, or a neutral. We have tested many things like sodium hydroxide, nitric acid (you can tell it’s an acid by the name), and rubbing alcohol.
Michael told us that red cabbage juice is an indicator and that is why it is able to tell whether it is an acid, base, or a neutral. The way to tell if it is an acid, a base or a neutral, is if it’s pink it’s an acid, if it’s green, it’s a base, and if it’s purple it’s a neutral. Some liquids are too strong for red cabbage juice so we are starting to us a new Indicator that is called pH paper. PH paper is literally a small piece paper when if you dip it in the liquid it will turn a color and you have to match it with the colors on the canister that held the pH paper (there are 12 colors on it). 1-5 are acids, 6-7 are neutrals, and 8-12 are bases. It’s really cool how a piece of paper can do this.

by Andrei and Max

We went to the Tenement Museum to meet Victoria Confino. The Tenement Museum is located on 97 Orchard Street. To get there we took the F train to Delancey St. and then walked from there.

The Tenement Museum is a place where you can go to learn about immigrants and where the poor once lived.

When we arrived we split up into group A and B. Megan and Molly (Maeve’s mom) were with group B. Deborah and us were with group A. Group A went to meet Victoria Confino while we learned about her. When half an hour went by we switched. Group B went to meet Victoria Confino and group A went to learn about her.

We went to another building to meet her. We were told she was from Ireland and we were supposed to pretend that we were an Italian family fresh off the boat. We were with a guide. Victoria had a strong accent. She had us sit in her parlor she had 3 rooms in her tenement apartment. One was the Parlor, one was the kitchen and in the back there was a bedroom. She had 2 boarders sleeping in the bed in the parlor head to toe. Victoria is one of the older siblings out of many siblings. She lives with boarders, her siblings and her parents.

Then we started asking our questions about what it was like to live in America and then we also tried to learn things about her. When she came to America and went to an American school she didn’t know how to read, write and speak English. She was put in a second grade class even though she was about 13 years old.

Her family doesn’t have a lot of money. Now she does some sewing as a job. She told us that boys and girls had different jobs.

She took us to her kitchen. She let us smell and look at some of the food and spices.

It was really surprising they fit about 10 people into that small 3 bedroom tenement. The whole tenement apartment together wasn’t much bigger than Deborah and Megan’s classroom.

It was cool to see an actor playing an immigrant and making it really feel like we were actual immigrants. We learned a lot about the life and history of immigrants in a really fun way. It makes us really think about about what we have now and what other people had to go through to survive now and back then. This was only our first time going to the Tenement Museum but there are many more trips there to come.

I recently visited Bridget Meehan Moore’s house, she immigrated to New York from Ireland with her three children. Her house is very cute and clean. She said, “I love the American fashion, it is so pretty!”

Bridget loves tea (or as she pronounced it te’ ( T-E-H) because she has an Irish accent) because in her hometown tea was very uncommon to drink. Bridget let me smell some of her herbs from Ireland and they smelled superb. The reason this herb was special to her, she said, “It smells exactly like my mother’s kitchen!”

Bridget would also make little dolls for her children, but entirely made out of dish rags! The one she showed me was beautiful. Bridget’s children seemed to like this doll very much because it had become very shriveled up and torn apart. Bridget Meehan Moore’s husband, Joseph, is a woodworker. He carves little toys for their children. He carved a nine pin set and even a horse! Bridget also tells her perspective of the Five Points neighborhood. Bridget said, “Five Points is a very unsafe place. There are people stealing. Nobody should go alone. If you have a husband then go with him, but if you have children do not go with them alone.”

Bridget claims there are not too many big piles of poo, on the streets of New York right now, in 1868.

Everyday Bridget stays home and does chores. That is all that a mother and wife can do.

Bridget is wearing a dress and she is very petite! Also Bridget told me there is only one other Irish person in the building and everybody else is German. So Bridget told me in the mornings, when she goes downstairs to get water she gets kind of frazzled because she does not know how to speak German. Bridget asked one of the reporters if they know any German words and he said to say “Gutten morgen!” Bridget asked,“What does that mean?” “It means good morning in German.” Our reporter answered “Okay. Perfect, thank you I will start with that,” replied Bridget.

News Article Written by,
Annie Casertano (Estelle)