Second graders were given a sense of what it might have been like for some 12 million immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1945 during their annual Ellis Island Simulation on December 11.

As part of the simulation, the second grade teachers and many parent volunteers transformed the Lower School’s third floor into an immigration processing center with registration, holding, and transportation areas, a clinic, and a room for interviews. The fifth floor became New York harbor.

With only small suitcases filled with their most precious belongings, the second graders spent the morning enduring long lines, cramped conditions, interrogations, and mock physical and psychological examinations. Much like the real immigrants, their names were changed without permission, they were searched for contraband, and they were treated brusquely by the immigration officials (played by their parents and teachers).

The Ellis Island project is the culmination of the second grade unit on immigration.

1. After getting off their cramped ship, second graders wait in long lines at the Ellis Island processing center.
2. They have to fill out immigration forms.
3. They are interviewed by brusque immigration officials.
4. Doctors check them for diseases.
5. Their bags are inspected.
6. All the young immigrants’ names, or newly given names, are registered before they can enter the United States.
7. Every immigrant receives money and a ticket before leaving Ellis Island.

(Click the thumbnails to enlarge. Total images on this page: 12 images)