Grade 5 visit the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp

Humans migrate as a response to challenges, risks and opportunities. That’s the Central Idea of the current Unit of Inquiry for Grade 5. To get a better understanding of the concept of Migration, Grade 5 visited the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp. This is what the students wrote about it:

We went to The Red Star Line museum to learn more about migration. The Red Star Line was a boat that took people to the United States. One thing that I learned was that most people left their countries in the 19th/20th century because of poverty. Another thing that I learned was Albert Einstein moved to the United States using the Red Star Line. I also learned that the people who made the Red Star Line (Harland & Wolff) also made the Titanic. It also surprised me that 12 million people passed through Ellis Island between 1892-1954. I thought that the museum was very interesting and had a lot of surprising facts, I also found the artifacts that they had very interesting. One question that I have is how long would it have taken to get the people across to the U.S., I also wonder how many people can go onto the ships at once. I was balanced during the trip because I looked around at the museum and answered the questions at the same time.
– Shaylin, Grade 5

Our class went on a trip to the Red Star Line museum. When we entered we had to start our scavenger hunt, we were sorted into groups and in the groups we were put in pairs. My partner was Finn as you can see on this photo above. I learned that at some points you would be only a step away of being denied and not let onto the ship. Another fact I learned was that the ships were quite luxurious for those days and there were even pools. One other fact I learned was that a lot of passengers were Jewish, so on the boats there were even Kosher* restaurants. A last fact is that the immigrants tried to take as many possessions as they could carry in their trunk. One of my questions is how many people could the Red Star Line building hold? Surely it can only hold a certain amount at once. Another question is how much money would the Red Star Line charge per person? I think I was open-minded and tried to think about how it would feel to be a immigrant and how difficult the journey would be even if you had family with you, you could just be denied in a matter of minutes at any time.
*Kosher is a type of way to eat in Judaism. For example, you aren’t allowed to eat meat and cheese at the same time or you aren’t allowed to eat pig.
– Yoav, Grade 5

Yesterday, we went to the Red Star Line museum and we got to do a scavenger hunt with many questions we had to find out. The Red Star Line is a shipping company that that moved people from Europe to the the US and Canada. Here are 4 facts I learned: that the immigrants had to give their clothing so they could wash it with special chemicals. That Europe was in poverty between the 1860s to the 1940s. That some ships had pools in them. Belgenland was made by the same company as the Titanic. I thought the layouts of the ships were unique. I thought it was nice rescuing people in Europe from the two World Wars. I thought that the museum explained a lot and also had some fun things at the same time. Some questions I still have: How long did it take to build one of the boats? What is the most common object a person brought with them? I think I was principled because I worked and didn’t talk too much, apart with my partner talking about the answer to the questions.
– Anders, Grade 5