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)

Deborah and Megan’s fourth grade class did a simulation of immigrants going through inspection on Ellis Island. We all chose a picture of an immigrant and we chose a name and country for them. In the simulation we were those immigrants. In the beginning we all walked in and as soon as we got there, we were our immigrant. We were dressed like our immigrant and we had to imagine being there at that time and going through inspection. Maeve was the first immigrant to pass through that day. Then sometimes after you were chosen you could be an inspector. When you were an inspector, it was a lot of fun. You got to choose whether someone was okay, mentally ill, had back problems, or other types of problems. It makes us laugh. But also we imagine how hard it is for them. I think our whole simulation was fun but for me the best part was, being an inspector.

Being an inspector is a really fun job but also a really hard job because half of the class was in your face saying, ‘I have back problems’ ‘I’m Mental’ “They told me I was limping!’ So as you can see its a little overwhelming. But you gave physical tests and mental tests, you would say stuff like “Do one jumping jack!” “Turn around” and you would have to do what they say, OR ELSE you might get deported!

Something we did in the simulation was dress up as our immigrant. Lots of girls wore scarves and bandanas on their heads. We all looked like real immigrants. The girls all wore thick skirts and shirts without designs. The boys wore hats and vests. Their hats looked like a newspaper boy.

You had to wait in line for your turn to be inspected. The line was so long that you had no hope of getting there soon. Thousands of Moms, Dads, Sisters, Brothers, Cousins, Grandmas, Grandpas, were ahead of you. When it was your turn you were very nervous. This was one girl’s experience, “How old are you?” “Seven” “Where are you from?” “Ireland” “Who are you staying with?” “My dad” “What is your occupation?” “Child” ”Ok, you can pass. NEXT”

One of the immigrants in our class named Charlotte Moore (Tess) went to the inspector. The inspector sent her to the hospital because they thought her eye looked like it carried a disease. Really it did. So Charlotte tried to keep the secret and they sent her to the doctor. The doctor (Maeve) looked at her eye. She looked under it and over it and then she told Charlotte that she could pass. Some people passed inspection, but some were too sick.

Then when we finished the inspections we got our passports stamped. We all had passports with pictures of of our immigrant selves in it. Then you had money from whatever country you were from and you traded it in for American money. Then, we took a boat to Manhattan. We went downstairs to the lobby where we pretended we were on a boat. We ate the white bread the teachers had given us. Some of us ate it fast because we were “starving” others of us ate slowly so we could “ save it.” When we were done with going on the boat we were in Manhattan! 🙂 Lower East Side, here we come!

by Tess and Maeve

The trip to NYU was lots of fun. We learned all about the brain. The trip was 6 blocks to NYU. The address is 82 Washington Place New York New York. We went on 12/12/14. My favorite part was when we got the brains. We learned with my mom, Dr. Goverover. She made a slideshow that we watched and did stuff for the brain.

The most interesting thing that I learned was the specific parts of the brain and what they do. I learned what to do to protect the brain. Headers are very important not to do because they give little shocks to the brain that hurt the brain.
We did some tests that people with brain injuries do. One was trying to get the cork out of the bottom of a glass. The other was to get three blocks to the other side in as few moves as possible. The cork test one person did alone, the other we did in a group. The materials for the cork were: a jar of water with lid, a metal thing, and a bottle with a cork. The rule was, no picking up the jar and bottle. At the end we had chocolate balls and we played in the park. We played boys vs. girls. The boys won!

By The Writer Alon and the Editor Diego

In art we are making paper maché immigrant dolls. The first step of the project was to take wire with newspapers around them and make the shape of a body. For the head we made circles of newspaper wire and we twisted the wire to attach the body to the head. When we were done we paper machéd the body into the shape we wanted. Then we let it dry. The next class when the paper maché was dry we painted the doll with skin color paint. In the next class we dressed the doll to look like an immigrant. I thought it was a fun part. That happened for the next two classes. Then it was time to paint the face. I thought that was the hardest part. You were so nervous that you would mess up on the face because it was for the art show. It was optional if you wanted to make a suitcase or a pet. To make a suitcase you would take a small box and paper maché it. Then you would make a paper maché handle. You could paint the suitcase brown and make a design. You could also put leather over handle. I thought it was really fun.