Tours for K-12 students use history to teach about New York and immigration.
All tours comply with NY State Learning Standards and facilitate the New Jersey Core Proficiencies for basic social studies skills, attitudes and knowledge.
Due to the generosity of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Tenement Museum is pleased to offer a limited number of free tickets for underserved populations throughout New York City.
To apply to be a part of our Good Neighbor program, please complete and return the application found here.
For more information on Distance Learning and Virtual Visit programs, please check our Accessible Tours and Services.
These K-12 tours use history to teach students about contemporary issues.
All tours comply with New York State Learning Standards and facilitate the New Jersey Core Proficiencies for basic social studies skills, attitudes and knowledge.
Meet the Residents: Living History Programs
Living history programs use costumed interpreters to bring past residents of 97 Orchard Street to life. Students meet interpreters portraying actual residents and hear first-hand about their experiences.
Victoria Confino
Play the part of a new immigrant family in 1916 searching
for your first home. Get help from Victoria Confino, a
14-year-old immigrant who lives at 97 Orchard Street. Students
ask Victoria questions to prepare them for their
new lives in America and learn about the universal
immigrant experience of starting your life over.
Grades K-12
Bridget Moore
Travel back to 1868 and help Bridget Moore prepare for
her housewarming party. Students talk to Bridget about
her experience as one of only two Irish families at 97
Orchard Street, and draw connections between Bridget's
experience and homesickness and discrimination today.
Grades K-6
Tenement Inspectors
Take on the role of housing inspectors in 1906. Interview a
tenant and a landlord and investigate 97 Orchard Street to
determine if the building is up to code. As students debate
who is responsible for taking care of the building, they
think critically about safety and gain the tools to inspect
their own homes today. Grades 4-8
Tour the building: Explore Family Stories
Interactive building tours tell the stories of immigrant families that lived at 97 Orchard Street. Educators use storytelling, activities, and objects to engage with history.
Hard Times
See how life at 97 Orchard Street differed for a German-
Jewish family in the 1870s and a Sicilian-Catholic family
during the 1930s. As students explore the Gumpertz and
Baldizzi apartments, they learn how families cope with
hard times and who they can turn to for help.
Grades 1-12
Irish Outsiders
Experience the immigrant saga through the music of
Irish America. Visit the 1869 home of the Moores, Irish
immigrants coping with the death of a child and explore
issues of discrimination, healthcare, and survival.
Grades 7-12
Sweatshop Workers
Visit the homes of two Jewish families who lived at 97
Orchard Street during the great wave of immigration.
Learn about the jobs the Levine and Rogarshevsky
families found in the garment industry and how work
influences family's home, cultural traditions, and
social lives.
Grades 1-12
Neighborhood Walking Tours
Neighborhood walking tours explore the Lower East Side and uncover the history and culture within the city streets. Walking tours take place outside, rain or shine and do not enter the tenement building.
Taste of Tenement
Elementary school students embark on a culinary journey. As they
investigate the neighborhood restaurants and markets, they sample
foods and learn about the role immigrants play within American food culture.
Grades 1-6
Foods of the lower East Side
Students investigate the food culture of the Lower East Side. As they sample
local treats representative of the neighborhood’s rich history, they explore
the interplay between American and immigrant foodways.
Grades 7-12
Outside the home
Investigate communal spaces and places central to immigrant life
a century ago. Sites include the towering Jarmulowsky Bank building,
where immigrants deposited (and eventually lost) their life savings;
the Jewish Daily Forward building, where socialists fought for worker
rights; and PS 42, where generations of immigrants learned how to
be "American". Grades 5-12
Then and now
Every few years, a new wave of people and buildings
transforms the Lower East Side. Learn how to read the
history of change in the neighborhood. Visit a tenement
that became a Chinese laundry, a synagogue that
became a church, and a public school that became
a Latino cultural center.
Grades 5-12
ESOL Workshops
Shared Journeys
Free ESOL workshops for high school students provide a unique
context for English language learning, help students place their
own immigration experience within a broader historical and political
framework, and promotes critical engagement with civic issues.
Grades 9-12
Off-site Programs
Virtual Visit with Victoria
Assume the role of a new immigrant family in 1916 and use videoconferencing to
virtually "visit" a costumed interpreter portraying 14-year-old Victoria Confino in her
tenement apartment. Ask questions about Victoria's family, home, and life on the Lower
East Side. For more information, visit http://www.cilc.org/search/content-providerprogram.aspx?id=2553
Grades 7-12
K-12 Students: $8; $14 for 2 programs (weekdays); $10; $17 for 2 programs (weekends)
NY Public Schools (5 boroughs): $6 for students, $10 for chaperones.
The FAQ page is the easiest way to get help.
To contact us directly, call 212-431-0233 x241 or email groups(at)tenement.org.
Reservation requests are required and must be made at least 3 weeks in advance. Programs often fill up several months in advance. Please make your request as soon as possible.
