Fourth Graders Tour Tenement Museum

Fourth graders kicked off their social studies unit on immigration with a virtual tour of the Tenement Museum. As part of the experience, they listened to the stories of an immigrant family and toured a historically restored apartment. 

“This is one of our favorite fourth grade trips, so we were so excited to be able to do it in some capacity this year,” fourth grade teacher Heather DeCurtis said. 

During the virtual trip, the students learned about the Baldizzi family, who immigrated to the United States from Italy in the 1930s and lived in what is now the Tenement Museum. They listened to an interview with Adolpho and Rosaria Baldizzi’s daughter Josephine, who described what it was like to live at the apartment, and toured the family home, which is staged to look as it did in the 1930s. They also looked at primary documents, including the ship manifest from when the father arrived in America, that helped researchers learn about the family.

“The experience gave students a really clear understanding of what life was like during this time period, and they are now eager to dive into this unit,” DeCurtis said.