Do your students ever wonder what it’s like to pilot a boat through New York Harbor? Or how they can apply their interest in technology toward ship navigation and repair? The maritime industries on Staten Island employ skilled workers in a variety of tasks on the waterfront. This program introduces students to rewarding careers they can pursue and includes a trip to the museum, a talk with a maritime worker, a rare opportunity to visit a working shipyard, and copies of the book Maritime Careers of New York Harbor.

As featured in the New York Times

Grades 3–12; $8 per student for museum trip only, $10 per student for museum and shipyard, $75 minimum

After a tour of John A. Noble’s Houseboat Studio, the class will write a story, sketch ship models, and design a maritime scene using paint on an acrylic printmaking plate. Students complete the project on our etcher’s press, where they create monoprints to bring home. An educator will discuss Noble’s work with the students and explore examples of the mediums he worked with including lithography, oil painting, and photography.

Grades 4–12
$8 per student, $100 minimum

Annie’s Journey to America

Join Annie Moore from Ireland as she disembarks an immigrant steamship and tells her story of coming to America through music, art, and Irish step dancing. Annie addresses all immigrant groups in this program, which encourages students to explore their family history and traditions. The class will enjoy discussing the customs of different cultures, including the costumes, food, musical instruments, and memories that make each immigrant group unique.

Grades 2–5
$5 per student, $75 minimum

Young Jack’s Voyage

Children pretend to board a sailing vessel with Jack, a nineteenth century sea captain who orders them to coil riggings, examine the parts of a ship, and sing sea shanties. Jack uses drama and music to teach students how to steer the ship, keep lookout with a spyglass, and work in the galley. The young sailors act out the characters of Jack’s family and crew, and draw a picture of their adventures to bring home.

Grades Kindergarten–2
$5 per student, $75 minimum

Lady Liberty

The Statue of Liberty comes to life to teach the history of New York Harbor. Students learn about Giovanni Verrazano, Henry Hudson, and Robert Fulton through storytelling and reenactment. They create a timeline with details of important dates in New York City’s history including the settlement of the Dutch and the Revolutionary War. The class will also learn about the different types of ships that have sailed through the Harbor in the past 500 years.

Grades 3–6
$5 per student, $75 minimum

Seas, Stars, and Spyglasses

Students work with the tools that ancient mariners used to find their way across the sea, and they compare those techniques and instruments with the ones used today. After looking at the night sky and the constellations in the museum’s classroom planetarium, they will make a mariner’s quadrant and chart their course on a “voyage” across the Atlantic.

Grades 4–12
$5 per student, $75 minimum

La Capitana Dice

This program is designed for ELL students in elementary school. It is a bilingual version of Seas, Stars, and Spy Glasses, and includes pre-and -post-visit materials and videos in Spanish and in English. Students will learn about navigation through interactive games, videos, and art projects that compare modern GPS systems used on ships with instruments, such as a mariner's quadrant, that sailors used in the past to navigate across the sea. This program is also offered as a multi-session residency.

Grades 1–5; $5 per student

This program is generously supported by the Richmond County Savings Foundation.

Watercolor Painting

Students will explore the creation of watercolor art as they experiment with the techniques of wet on wet, wet on dry, and color washing. They will discuss art history and look at inspiring works by Winslow Homer. An educator will tell a sensory story about life on a ship, and encourage the class to write a maritime tale of their own. Students will explore the museum’s education facilities and develop art analysis skills.

Grades 2–12
$8 per student, $100 minimum