Irvington Fourth-Graders Recreate the Immigrant Experience

Fourth-graders from Main Street School in Irvington recently recreated the experience of Europeans immigrating to the United States as part of Immigration Day.

The students recreated what it was like to travel through Ellis Island in the early 1900s, part of an annual district event, which correlated to a study unit on the great wave of European immigration to America at the turn of the century. Students role-played as European immigrants, while parent volunteers served as official inspectors and teachers as immigration agents, all dressed in period costume.

“It’s wonderful to see how the students’ faces light up when they tell stories about their grandparents and great-grandparents coming to America,” said fourth-grade teacher Scott Andrasko in a statement. “They feel so proud of the information they learned from their parents at home.”

Added fourth-grader Alex Pollack, “It was a pretty cool and nerve-racking experience, because I really felt like I was at Ellis Island.”

Students rotated among various stations that replicated the frustration and uncertainty experienced by immigrants. The adult re-enactors conducted mock medical exams and intensive personal interviews with the students, approved or rejected their passport applications, handed out and graded the students’ personal information forms, inspected baggage, and even held a mock deportation of selected “immigrants,” all providing an unforgettable interactive experience that put the students’ history studies in context.

Photo credit: Irvington School District