First Full Day

Greetings from the slightly psychotic 6th grade teacher. I am proud to report that at the end of a very long day, we are all still alive and no one is lost. And no one has been to the ER yet!! We started our day with an exciting Metro ride. Cherie got half on and half off, but other than that, no close calls. It was a little frightening for some but in the end, they loved it. First stop was to Senator David Vitter's office. As you can see from the photos, our children were very attentive and respectful of his office. They asked a few questions and took an official Senate photograph with him. On our way to the Capitol, Jacob and Street gave us a quick lesson on the Supreme Court. Next we detoured through the Library of Congress. It was a beautiful building. We then made our way to the front steps of the Capitol building. Today is the National Day of Prayer and as you may have seen on the news, there has been 24 hour scripture reading on the Capitol steps. After listening to one of the members of Congress read, one of our own, Nolan Parker, was allowed to read from the Bible for about 10 minutes. How exciting it was to see him do this and what an impact on our students to see this take place. From there we grabbed lunch and took a nice break. At 1:30 we entered the Capitol for our tour. We were even allowed to sit in the Senate gallery. Ask Andy Brister what happens when you fall asleep during a session!! The Capitol tour was very interesting while learning some interesting facts. Did you know the white circle in the center of the rotunda is the center of Washington, DC and that every street goes forth from there? Also, one side of the room has one zip code while the other side is a different one. There is also a tomb for George Washington in the Capitol but he is not in it. Moving on from there, we toured the Botanical Gardens and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We had supper there and headed home on the Metro. We stopped along the way for doughnuts, sushi and ice cream!! All in all it has been an incredibly amazing day. Rule for tomorrow, you must wear tennis shoes!! Kids are swimming, adults relaxing...did I say relaxing? more like counting the minutes for lights out!! Talk to you tomorrow!

Leavin on a Jet Plane...

The first leg of our journey is now complete and we have finally arrived at our destination, Washington D.C. At last count, we were 16 students and 8 adults, and 23 bags. Mrs. Amy wins the prize for the adult with the smallest suitcase! It has been a very exciting start to a wonderful trip. Upon arrival at the airport, we checked in our 23 suitcases and found a comfortable spot to hang out with the parents who brought us before we entered security. Everyone was briefed on security procedure and we walked through security without incident. The airplane was waiting for us when we arrived so we knew that the yucky weather would not delay us. Gotta luv Southwest Airlines!! There were a few tears as fears were resolved and everyone entered the airplane and found a seat together. Many of our students have never flown before so taking off was very exciting. There were squeals and cheers as we went up into the air. As chaperones, we were concerned that those around us would be disturbed, but we actually had an older couple tell us at the end of the flight that we had extremely well behaved students. Go Mrs. Tisha!!! There was some turbulence at the end of the flight and I think a few students left with white knuckles, but all had smiles on while exiting the plane. The baggage claim turned out to be a challenge when only 22 of our 23 bags were retrieved. Adam's little bag appeared to be stuck with some other baggage and it took awhile to get the machine operational again. Then we were off in our three big vans to the hotel. The hotel is HUGE and very exciting. There is a waterfall with Koi fish in it's pond and a big self revolving door. Both are fascinating to this group. We had pizza delivered to the hotel so we could all eat together before going up to our rooms. Our rooms are spacious, but with 6 people, we do wish we had two bathrooms. Thank God for Lysol! Tomorrow is an early day starting with a visit with Senator David Vitter.

And We're Off....

Today is the big day. The countdown is now 0. We will leave this afternoon and will not arrive at our hotel until mid evening where I will put out a post before bedtime. Several of you have asked about leaving a comment on the blog. We would love to hear from you. At the bottom of each post is the word "comment". You can click on that and it should bring up a comment box. You can type what you want and you will be asked to select a "profile" from a drop down box. If you don't know which one to select, you can pick "name/url" and just type in your name in the box that comes up. You can skip the "url" part. Then you will be asked to decipher a series of letters and type them in a box. This helps us reduce spam to the blog. If you get it wrong, it will give you a gazillion different words to try until you get it right. Once you are done with all of this, click the word "post" and we will see it. Still a lot to do before we leave. See you in D.C.!

Three...Two...One

The countdown has begun. I don't know who is more excited, the kids or the chaperones! The week of our trip has finally arrived. The Bingo fundraiser was another huge success. Thank you to everyone who participated in making it possible and all who came and played. Thank you also to everyone who has made a donation toward the trip. I know we could not have undertaken such a huge endeavor without the generosity of all involved. As we make our final preparations, please pray for our safety and the nerves of our more timid flyers. We hope to make this trip one that our young people will always remember fondly and possibly point to as inspiration for a career in the future. Follow us on the blog as we will try to update it every day. See you in D.C.!

Give me a B... Give me an I... Give me an N...

That's right, we are playing BINGO. It's our last fundraiser before the trip and the kids hope to make enough money to cover ALL of their expenses. They have had great success so far in raising money toward the trip. BINGO will be held at the Lake Providence Country Club on Thursday night (4/30/09) at 6:00 p.m. You can buy individual cards or pay $25.00 and play all night! The $25.00 will also get you a hot dog meal so you won't go home hungry. Prizes will be selected by each winner which makes it even more fun. Come out and support the 6th grade and have a great time!

Vicksburg Military Park

How much American History can we fit into a year? This year seems to be quite a bit. After two weeks of study on the Civil War, the 6th grade class took a field trip to the Vicksburg Military Park. The had a great time putting their knowledge to the test and learning some of the little known facts while they were there. They also re-enacted a battle scene as you can see from the pictures. Learning involves seeing and touching as well as hearing as this class is well aware. They can't wait to set their feet in Washington D.C. and see and feel some of what they have heard and learned this year.