4.9.16

This past week, as many of you know, some of us took a trip to Washington, DC.  Though it was a memorable trip filled with growing closer with classmates, creating inside jokes, and #NeverAgain eating at Taco Bell, it was an educational trip that engaged us and taught us so much.

"The capitol of the United States, Washington DC is where history comes alive."  This is so true!  I had never been to DC before.  I mean I knew that it is our nations capitol and that it is historical, but there's just something about being in these places and seeing the history first hand that pulls you in and makes you want to learn everything you can.

Walking through the capitol building, seeing the White House, standing at the feet of Abraham Lincoln, visiting the Holocaust Museum, and seeing the Washington monument are experiences like none other.  There is so much History or Social Studies to be learned from visiting DC, but there are other content areas woven throughout the threads of the DC tapestry.

Science can be found in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and the Udvar Hazy Center.  Art can be found in the Smithsonian American Art Museum as well as in the Capitol Building and the Library of Congress.  Literacy can be intertwined through reading in the museums, listening to our guides, and sharing learned information.  Math is a bit more challenging to incorporate but could probably be included with the Air and Space/Udvar Hazy Museums as well as with calculating how old buildings are and how many items the Library of Congress holds.  Health and Physical Exercise can also be factored in as we walked about 60,000 steps in just four days.

We were able to see so much in just four long days.  In addition to exploring the history of the city we were able to see many field trip do's and don'ts as well.  It seemed like the city was filled with middle school groups.  Some were well behaved and others were not.  We learned that bad behavior needs to be handled otherwise it affects the experience of people not on the trip.  We also learned that keeping the students busy (i.e walking everywhere) often keeps them out of trouble.

This was a wonderful experience that taught me so much.  I learned that in order to be a teacher leader on a trip like this, you need to know the area and have been before in order to plan the best trip for students (1a).  Trips like this cost a lot of money and teachers must work with families to fundraise and make the trip possible for all students (2e).  With this trip as well as any trip, teachers must make sure there are connections to the content as well as find ways in which other content areas are connected (3b and 3c).  On a trip this big teachers must make sure they are communicating clearly and effectively so that all students know where they need to be, what the rules are, and where to meet the group if they are allowed to roam on their own (4g).

http://www.classtrips.com/region-landing/1856/school-field-trips-in-washington-dc-metro

I'm also going to include some photos in case you want to see our trip.