Knock, knock. Guess who's here?!?

Hands down, the White House tour was incredible and will most likely remain the top highlight of the whole trip! From changing into dress clothes straight from the airport bathrooms to waiting in line to get through the detailed security checkpoints, the kids are definitely in the running for the Perseverance Award. Their reward was well worth it. As we circled the White House on the bus, the students couldn't believe that within minutes, they would enter the most high-profile building in our country. Upon entering through the ground corridor entrance, we passed through the Library, Vermeil (Silver) Room, China Room, East Room, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room, and State Dining Room. The questions that the students were asking were so insightful and they couldn't fathom that some of the artifacts were used by former presidents, like the plateware of Abe Lincoln or the coffee urn used by John and Abigail Adams. Jayde was quick to point out that she saw a show on TV featuring the pets of the White House and one year, a dog soiled a carpet that cost over $10,000 to replace. Immediately, students began looking for "she-she" stains on the carpets, in hopes of receiving some "Executive Branch Recognition" for the discovery. The portraits were also quite a sight, especially the original 1797 Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington that has hung in the White House since 1800. Dolley Madison saved it when the British burned down the White House in 1814. The kids didn't like the idea of anyone burning down the White House. The green shoots of patriotism are showing!!

Though we didn't get to see Uncle Barry, the kids were content to know that he was at least in the house at the same time as them, albeit on the other side in the West Wing. I had a couple of students fall for a prank when I received a "phone call" from the President, saying that he wanted to know when we were going to drop off the Spam Musubis. The kids totally bought it.

After a couple group shots in front of the house along with wishful thinking that Obama would miraculously appear in one of the windows and throw a shaka, we made our way to the Museum of Natural History, dampened by the rain but exhilarated by the experience.

We gave the kids the opportunity to hui up in groups of 3 (it's the magic number) to explore the museum. They kept asking when Ben Stiller was going to pop out of the displays and I told them that a) Night At The Museum was just a movie and Ben didn't really work there and b) the setting of the movie was the museum in New York city.

 The museum was full of awesome displays such as an embalmed 20-foot deep sea squid, dinosaur fossils of T-Rex, taxidermied mammals from exotic places, the Hope Diamond and other precious gems, and a giant Great White jaw fit for a 52-foot long prehistoric shark. The teachers thought it would be funny to stand downwind from the elephant in the center atrium and we paid the price. =)




Watching everyone interact with the exhibits was great. You really got a sense that this new information and exposure to knowledge was cranking the cerebral cogs in their mind. Watching a real-life archaeologist at work on creating a fossil cast gave us teachers a learning opportunity to explain how what students learn now, in Science for example, though abstract at times plays directly into what they can do in that field later on in life (scientific inquiry, lab experiments, evolutionary theory, etc.)

Next stop was the Museum of American History. This was full of exhibits ranging from American pop culture (Dorothy's ruby red slippers, R2D2, Kermit the Frog) to U.S. History artifacts (Abe Lincoln's top hat and handwritten letters, sabers of Civil War generals, the biggest American flag I've ever seen, to name a few). At this point, students were pretty pooped so we loaded onto the bus and gave everyone about 40 minutes to catch a nap and rest their feet.