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costume ideas for Ellis Island simulation


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My 6th grader attends a UMS two days a week and they are doing an Ellis Island simulation next week and he is to dress in "character". Twenty percent of his grade is having a costume that shows evidence of thoughtfulness and creativity. His assigned character is a 25 year old doctor (atheist) immigrating from Sweden whose appearence at Ellis Island is "dissheveled" and "weak". I am not a creative person and I need ideas. We've looked in closets at home and at Papa's and can't even find a decent hat of the time period! Looking for suggestions.

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Ds had to do this in ps in 8th grade. He was Mr. Fabarkar from Germany. He was a musician, so he dressed in his dad's old suit and we dirtied a white shirt for him (since bathing on board might have been difficult) and made it slightly rattier than it was. He carried a beat up guitar case (old one we had around).

Could you thrift shop for a costume? Disheveled hair, sturdy shoes, a little smudging on the shirt, etc go a long way to making someone look like they've been on board a crowded ship for a while. (I have heard most people traveled in their good clothes, not their grubbies, but the ships belched soot and often they got dirty.) A large black purse could serve as a Dr's bag.

 

Of course, my grandmother emigrated from Germany, and she came on the Rotterdam, not thru Ellis Island--so maybe tell your son not everyone arrived looking so ratty!

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Good ideas. What fun! I would also hit the local Goodwill. Look for suspenders, white dress shirt and dark jacket to be 'dirtied up', maybe a tie, and you could find a black or brown bag. I even saw a stethoscope at mine once (or get a toy one to wrap over the handle of the black bag. I'm thinking of a felt cap of some sort...should be plentiful this time of year.

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My 6th grader attends a UMS two days a week and they are doing an Ellis Island simulation next week and he is to dress in "character". Twenty percent of his grade is having a costume that shows evidence of thoughtfulness and creativity. His assigned character is a 25 year old doctor (atheist) immigrating from Sweden whose appearence at Ellis Island is "dissheveled" and "weak". I am not a creative person and I need ideas. We've looked in closets at home and at Papa's and can't even find a decent hat of the time period! Looking for suggestions.

 

I'm sorry, I have to ask this: Did the school actually specify that he was to portray a doctor who was an atheist?

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