The 2014 5th Grade Science Olympiad Students Visit DC: Day 1

This trip has only been made possible thanks to our family, friends, school community, and community partners who have donated to help us raise the funding that is needed to provide this once in a lifetime trip for our students. I cannot thank you enough for your generosity.

Our students have been phenomenal leaders and are representing our school well. We have even received several compliments about their behavior! Our school teaches students about the 7 Habits of highly effective people, so their behavior which has illustrated these habits and shown what good leaders they can be has made us, their chaperones and teachers, proud. Today we coined “Habit 8: Move to the right,” which was our signal to students to move to the right so that we did not block the pathway for others trying to get by.

Teacher work days and technology training meant that today was my first official day of summer vacation. Normally I would have slept in and enjoyed some time with my puppy Stanley. However, instead I had my alarm going off at 3:30 AM so that I could be out the door and to school in time to meet everyone at the lovely hour of 4:15 AM. Now why on earth would I get up at such an early hour on my first full day of summer vacation? I was up before the sun to chaperone a group of 5^th grade Science Olympiad students on a trip to Washington, DC. The next few days I will be sharing our adventures in DC.

To prepare for this trip our Science Olympiad kids met several times after school to research DC, choose the top three places they wanted to visit, synergize to plan the itinerary, learn what to pack in their suitcases and what to expect when we embark on our journey. We ensure that each student gets to see their top place. When we visit their top place, they are the “expert” and share a bit about why they are interested in going there and what might be of interest.

Four vehicles transported us from school to the airport so we could catch our flight. Once we arrived at the airport everyone made it through security lickity-split. Everyone had their liquids ready to roll in a quart-sized bag. As we passed through security, students were able to go through the metal detector without taking off their shoes because they are under the age of 14. Upon exiting the security checkpoint, students immediately moved to the side so as to not block other passengers. This is something we had talked about prior to our trip and our students did it without reminders! When traveling with a large group, we have found that little things like moving to the side quickly help keep our group together while ensuring we do not interfere with others who are trying to get to their own destinations.

Since we were flying on Delta from Atlanta to DC, we did not have to get on the tram to go to another terminal; rather, we simply ventured down the T terminal to our gate, T3, where we set our stuff down. While we waited for our flight to board, we went in small groups to either Bojangles or Corner Bakery Café to grab a bite to eat for breakfast.

A majority of our students had never been on a plane before so their excitement was palpable as we waited to board our flight. We were able to be some of the first people on the flight because we were traveling in a group. This was nice because it allowed us to get on and settled before we pulled away from the gate. Our flight was a bit delayed taking off due to a backup on the runway. As we waited for our flight to take off, students excitedly gripped starburst candies in their hands. Once we took off, students chewed the starburst as we ascended to help their ears adjust to the change in altitude.

Upon arriving at Washington-Reagan Airport, we waited for everyone else to deplane before we gathered our things. We made a quick pit stop at the restrooms before venturing out to experience the metro system for the first time. Thankfully peak hours were just ending, so we were able to get on the metro and make a transfer so we could drop our luggage off at the hotel. Since our rooms were not ready, the concierge kindly checked our luggage before we hit the road to our first official DC destination: The National Gallery of Art.

Can you guess what our first stop inside the National Gallery of Art was? No, it was not an exhibit; at least not one of an artistic nature; rather, it was the Cascade Café where we grabbed a quick bite to eat so we could have energy to carry us through our museum explorations. Each student has been learning to budget as a part of this trip. For each meal they have $10 to spend. This particular meal challenged everyone to stay within their $10 meal budget while taking into account that all food has a 10% tax. Yes, we are indeed challenging our students to use a bit of mental math to ensure they stay within their budget! ;)

After lunch we embarked on our exploration of the National Gallery of Art. While there we saw a plethora of artists from van Gogh and Rembrandt to Degas and Cassatt. Students enjoyed seeing pieces of art in person; but perhaps the greatest thing students learned was museum etiquette (keep bags on one shoulder so you don’t bump artwork by accident, don’t lean on the wall, you have to pay attention to signs so you know whether or not it is ok to take a picture of the artwork). One of the National Gallery of Art security guards came up to us and joked, “Y’all didn’t have to get dressed up to see us! You could have just worn t-shirts and jeans!” (Note: We were all wearing our Science Olympiad t-shirts with fingerprint ties as well as either jean pants or jean shorts.)

Our next destination was the American History Museum. While there we saw a counter that was used for a sit-in during the Civil Rights Movement, the flag sewn by Mary Pickersgill that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner and exhibits on the American Presidency and First Ladies. 

The skies opened up on us as we were finishing up at the American History Museum so we donned our ponchos to prepare for our walk to the Washington Monument where we had a tour scheduled.  We learned that the Washington Monument is the tallest building in DC as it stands at a height of 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches.  

Due to the cold, rainy weather, we had to change our dinner plans from enjoying a leisurely pizza dinner in the National Mall to a more appropriate venue that was indoors. We ended up enjoying a potluck of foods at Union Station Food Court which has everything from Taco Bell and Burger King to Subway and Chinese food.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel where students took time to call their parents, shower, get ready for bed and reflect in their journals about their experiences thus far in DC. Perhaps Marcelino summed today up best when he declared, “The plane ride was awesome! Today was AWESOME!! I can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow!”

As I sat down to write about our DC adventures tonight, I am utterly exhausted. My puppy, Stanley, got some vaccinations yesterday afternoon and had a bad allergic reaction. Thankfully when I rushed him back to the vet last night they were able to give him some medicine to make him feel better. I spent the night getting very little sleep so I could give Stanley more medicine and make sure he drank a little bit of water. Thankfully I have some fabulous friends, Mamie and Sam, who are taking good care of Stanley so I can chaperone this trip. Stanley is now on the mend thanks to some TLC! I share this with you so you will please give me a bit of leeway if my writing is not quite up to par – a lack of sleep and traveling to a major city have used up my energy.

Check back in tomorrow night to see what Day 2 of our 2014 DC adventures will bring! (I promise to do a better job writing tomorrow after I get a bit of sleep!)