Science Olympiad in DC: Day 2

Alarm clocks roused us from our comfy beds this morning, but once our feet hit the ground we kept moving all day long. The Embassy Suites hotel in which we are staying puts on a fabulous breakfast buffet that is included in the cost of our hotel. Everyone enjoyed everything from omelets and French toast to cereal, sausage and bagels. After breakfast, we took a few minutes to gather our backpacks, fill our water bottles and spray on the sunscreen. (The weather was a bit chilly in the morning, but warmed up to the 70s through the course of the day.)

Our first destination of the day was a visit to Ford’s Theatre. Since we arrived forty-five minutes prior to our reservation, we had time to visit a few souvenir shops. Students enjoyed picking up a couple of mementos for family and friends. One of the most popular souvenirs consisted of students inserting 51₵ into a machine, choosing what they wanted to imprint and then turning the handle so that the penny was flattened and imprinted with their choice of design.

Upon entering Ford’s Theatre we navigated our way through a museum in the basement which chronicled the events leading up to President Lincoln’s assassination as well as important aspects of his life. 

Above: The gun that John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

Below: Our students gathered around a statue of Honest Abe.

Then we got to go and take a seat inside Ford’s Theatre where we were treated to an actor impersonating Boston Corbett, who shot John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. During the performance we learned that Ford’s Theatre was a Baptist Church up until 1833 at which point the Ford family bought it and proceeded to rent it out for five years as a music hall. As a result of a fire that pretty much gutted the theatre, the Ford family invested $75,000 to completely renovate the theatre. After providing the aforementioned background information, the actor proceeded to lay out the events that happened within the theatre that led to Lincoln’s assassination.

The Presidential box is set up exactly as it was on the day that Lincoln was assassinated. According to our tour guide, there are three original pieces within the box with the rest being replicas (the historical accuracy of the placement and type of items is known due to photographs and historical documents). The three original items are a picture of George Washington which hangs in front of the Presidential box, the king chair where Mary Lincoln sat, and the couch where Major Henry Rathbone sat.

Since Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House after he was shot, no visit could be complete without stopping over there.

By the time we wrapped up our visit to Ford’s Theatre and the Petersen House, our stomachs were beginning to rumble. We headed over to Potbelly Sandwich Shop where we enjoyed sandwiches, chips and sodas for lunch.  

Our next stop was the National Portrait Gallery. Below are some pictures of some of our favorite pieces:

As we were touring the National Portrait Gallery and checking out the artwork I took note of two things. First, students were having a ball snapping pictures of their favorite pieces of artwork. Second, students’ anticipation was high for our visit to the Secret Service museum as I was asked numerous times if it was time for us to go there yet.

A family friend is in the Secret Service and was able to take us into the Secret Service museum which has on display a variety of items that catalogue the history of the Secret Service. My friend showed us a video that detailed the history of the Secret Service as well as some of the training that one has to do to become an agent. We learned that the Secret Service began as an agency working to end counterfeiting in 1865. One of the last things that Lincoln did on the day he was assassinated was approve the Secret Service as an agency within the Treasury Department to work against counterfeiting. It was not until 1901 that the Secret Service began to protect Presidents, their immediate families, visiting dignitaries and other distinguished people. 

 

Next up on our itinerary was the Natural History Museum where we saw a plethora of things from gems to insects.

One of our final destinations today was the Air and Space Museum where we learned about everything from airplanes to space travel. 

 

How many of you have ever seen the television show Top Chef? If so, then you may be jealous of us and the dinner we enjoyed tonight. We ate at Good Stuff Eatery which was founded by Spike Mendelshon While there we gorged ourselves on burgers, sea salt fries and shakes. We all had some serious “food babies” going on by the time we left the restaurant! 

 

As we were riding the elevator from the hotel lobby to the fifth floor where our rooms are located, Ms. Dunlap took note of the sign in the elevator that said there is a 3,500 pound weight limit. She jokingly said, “Do you think with all of the delicious burgers, fries and shakes we just ate that we will be ok?” Suddenly the elevator jerked, and Marcelino exclaimed, “Oh, no! We’re stuck!!” This provided us with a good belly laugh before students called parents.

After calls home, we met briefly as a group to review our schedule for tomorrow, watch a video about the Capital to give us a bit of background before our visit there tomorrow, and received our sporty red t-shirts that we will be wearing during our DC adventures tomorrow. Then students showered, got ready for bed and journaled, before curling up to dream about tomorrow’s DC adventures.

Today we walked over eight miles, saw some fabulous sights (including some like the Secret Service museum that not everyone can enter), rode and transferred metros like experts, gorged ourselves on some delicious DC food and made memories to last a lifetime. We cannot wait to see what tomorrow will bring when we venture into DC for the third day in a row.

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!)

Monday Made It (a day late!): Kiss Your Brain

I’m currently enjoying a fabulous family reunion with my dad’s side of the family. We are staying in a gorgeous mansion that was originally built by Mr. Warren. My family is so large that we are occupying both the main house as well as the carriage house. Our days have been spent lounging on the beach, swimming in Lake Michigan, shopping and golfing while our nights begin with delicious dinners and end with games and bon fires on the beach. The house is located right on the lake with over 200 feet of beach frontage. The remote location of the house means cell phone and internet have been nonexistent, thus my tardiness in posting this week’s Made It Monday. I had to drive to a tiny grocery store on the side of Broken Arrow Highway where they are kind enough to let me briefly utilize their internet to post this.

Pinterest is full of different versions of the “Kiss Your Brain” container. When I went about creating my own little version, I wanted it to be something that I could quickly and inexpensively make.

My first stop was Hobby Lobby where I grabbed some scrapbook stickers in the shape of lips as well as colorful alphabet stickers. Then I headed to Target to buy a clear container as well as large bag of Hershey Kisses. All together I got the supplies for less than $20.

The creation of my “Kiss Your Brain” container took less than ten minutes! I simply put the letters on the container to spell out Kiss Your Brain and then added the lips. Finally, I put in a large bag of Hershey Kisses. I found that my container was actually large enough to house two of the Hershey Kiss party bags.

When school begins this coming year I plan to use the “Kiss Your Brain” container as a way to reinforce student participation. Over the years I have come to realize that positive reinforcement of some type encourages students to answer and more fully participate in class. What better way to provide that reinforcement than with chocolate! Plus, I love chocolate and find myself needing the occasional piece so my “Kiss Your Brain” container will surely be put to good use!

Once again I would like to thank Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for allowing me to link up with her for Monday Made It.

Monday Made It: Alaska Chill Out Spot

Have you ever had a student that just needed a moment to “chill out” so that he or she can refocus and turn their day around? I most definitely have had several students of this nature. I saw a post from Made In The Shade In Second Grade about an Alaska Chill Out Spot where she sends her kids when they need a moment to regroup. I took the idea and gave it my own personal twist.

I work at a school that teaches our students the 7 Habits so I knew I wanted to incorporate the Habits into some sort of a chill out spot. As a result I came up with a short poem which I printed on a sheet of dark t-shirt iron-on paper. I then ironed the poem onto a beach chair that I got really cheap at Target.

 

Next I printed another copy of the poem on paper and Mod Podged it onto the top of a container. This container will be stored underneath my Alaska Chill Out Spot chair. Inside of the box I will keep books that students can read while they chill out and regroup. All of the books will be books we have read together as a class and discussed how the 7 Habits are exemplified throughout the books.

 

 

Do you like my version of the Alaska Chill Out Spot? Hop on over to my Katie Can Resources TpT store and download it as a FREEBIE! J

 

Many thanks to Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for allowing me to link up with her again for her Monday Made It. Take a few minutes to check out what other fabulous bloggers have made!