Tuesday, I was able to go with Spencer and his Third Grade class on their class trip.
(All five classes went on this trip and that would be 110 - 9-10 year olds.)
We actually traveled in “style” down to
No school bus for us, we had charter busses!
Sweet!
I found out the week before the trip that my son’s teacher was going to be on vacation while we were on the field trip. What?!
She decided to take a week off and go to
The class was left with a student teacher (who worked with another third grade class) and six parents.
We were budded up with at least three to a group.
My group had two girls and Spencer, he was not happy at all.
So… when it was time to get aboard the bus (two classes per bus –then some had to be split) there was no room for Spencer and
The teachers could not figure out how that happened.
Spence and I ended up on the first bus with two different classes. We did however get to watch Monsters, Inc. J
Finally, after ninety minutes we arrived at our first stop, the
We hitched back up with his class and the girls who were with us.
Once inside, they broke the classes down again and yep, we were placed with another class.
So..
Our group did the Natural History Section first and it was quite interesting.
(Before our group was taken inside we did find one of the sets that was used in the movie Night at the Museum. It was the Roman Village with the people and soldiers, that was kinda neat to see how small they were.)
The guide was full of information, made it really enjoyable and the children wanted to answer his questions!
They learned that the ocean was once up to where 
Then it was lunch time. (good thing, I was starvin!)
We were given lunch, had to woof it down because we were running a wee bit behind.
After lunch, it was off to the History of War (bottom half of the museum).
This portion there were about five groups that were pulled together to go through at once.
It seemed that once the children had eaten, they had more energy to buzz through it all.
They were asked to find certain items around the room and then were pulled back together to learn about Gen. Wade Hampton’s sword (which is on display).
This part had them so quiet and really listening. (nice to see), because before this all the students were running around and just well, hyper.
Then it was back on the bus to go through the State House.
Click this link; if you would like to take a virtual tour of the building.
Our class was in one of the last groups scheduled to go through at
It started out with my two girls running to be first.
They always had to be first in line, on the bus, in the bathroom, getting their lunch, honestly, it did not matter what we did they pushed up and wanted to be first. *yesh*
I ended up teaming with another parent so we could keep both of our groups in line and on track. The monuments were really beautiful, I wish I could have snapped more pictures but then I would not have been able to keep my eye on the children.
We did find the center of the state; Spencer thought this was really cool. (That’s my boy!)
(George Wasington)
Finally, after an hour in the hot sun, we were ready to get inside the building.
The security guards were nice enough to allow the students to enter to get drinks before we went in as a large group. (Thank you!!)
We watched a video about how the building was constructed, the damage it suffered during the Civil War and how it came to be about as we see it today.
Then we were treated to seeing...
House of Representatives side
and the Senate side.
This is a false dome that is inside the building.
This is not the one that you see on the outside, weird I know, but totally beautiful.
It turns out that one parent (he was on the first bus and in the first group) was having a fit because our group was running a bit late; we were to have left by
Why was he irritated so badly?
He had a few baseball players that had a game at 6 that night and he could not be late. His "boys" would have to forfeit if we were late and it was an all important game. *deep sigh*
I opted to sit in the jumper seat this time, Spencer wanted to be with his class and I can’t blame him. It turned out there was an extra set for me in the front row … I won’t ask why going down I could not have sat there. I was just happy to be on a bus going home.
The bus was loud; kids wanted to get home and were pretty tired.
I will say that the parents were as tired if not more than the students; a few even dozed off on the trip back home.
Once back at the school, everyone piled off, went to their parents and then home.
It was an interesting day to say the least, I did learn some information about the state that we currently live in (no, I am not from here originally) and it was great to spend some extra time with my son.
The trip cumulated all that these children have learned through the year.
Third grade is all about South Carolina History, from the Native American Tribes, trading, Civil War, growth of the cotton industry to a bit of the reconstruction of the state.
Up-Country,
I have to admit that I learned more with Spencer than I did three years ago with Nate.
Nate did not do as an in-depth study of the state as his brother.
Good thing I enjoy history otherwise, it would have been a really long year. *smile*
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