A Trip to DC = A LOT of PICTURES

At some point during the school year, a company contacted me with an offer to take students to our Nation's Capitol. No thanks.... I can't afford that. But then they said if 15 students signed up and went, I would get to go for free. Yes thank you... I can afford that. My department started advertising like crazy trying to get students to sign up. I work in an area where my students and their families have been hit hard with the recession so I was surprised that we got enough students to sign up. The company paid half of my co-worker/friend Ashley's fee and I am SO glad. We realized that 14 kids in a classroom is a very small amount of students that can easily be managed. 14 kids in the airport and in a big city is a LARGE amount of students that cannot be easily managed. But we had so much fun. The kids we took were great and entertaining. They were respectful and thoughtful and were interested in learning for the most part. It was a jam packed 4 days. I am so grateful they had the opportunity to go and experience history. Ashley and I were so proud of them when we would quiz them and they remembered what they had studied the past two years. Ashley quizzed them about Architecture and art and WWII and I quizzed them about the Bill of the Rights, the Civil War, the three branches of Government and for the most part they remembered. We did experience one small emergency that broke my heart because the kids had to leave without me. I hated saying goodbye to them early. I love teaching and I love to help the teenagers and to even learn from the teenagers. Here are quite a few pictures from our eventful trip.
Ashely and I can hardly believe we are in DC with 14 teenagers.

The irony of history and George Washington.... the Man who refused to be a king, who stepped down after two terms in office, who asked to be called "Mr. President"... is portrayed as a king and Greek God all over DC. Mr. Lincoln's top hat.
The Vietnam Memorial

The whole crew on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

We thought it was pretty cool that you could see the Capitol and the Washington Monument.

Ashley must have been really tired...

Or Maybe she was just admiring the roof in the Jefferson Memorial that is designed to look like the PantheonThis is me asking my students... "Now what document did Thomas Jefferson Write?"

How is that different from the Constitution?

What three unalienable rights are listed in the Declaration of Independence?

The whole group at the end of the first day. They are troopers especially since they had to get up at 4 am. World War II Memorial
My favorite place we visited... Mount Vernon. Home of George and Martha. Can you believe he owned 8,000 acres of land!?

This is the backyard.

Sitting on the back porch

The Kids couldn't stand the humidity. So when it rained they were so excited.

We on the other hand were not as excited. Luckily they did not want to use their umbrella.

After visiting the national archives, I wiped the tears from my eyes and called Allen to tell him I really love America. I cannot really express the feelings I had when I saw the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

This use to be General Robert E. Lee's home. When the Civil War began, the Lee's abandoned the home to head South to help the Confederacy. Well during the War, the Union began burying Union Soldiers on his property. Talk about a stab in the back. So now it is Arlington National Cemetery.

Tomb of an Unknown Soldier.

I had no idea it was so big!

Then it rained really hard! some of those poor kids were soaking wet...

But they didn't complain. I was really amazed by their positive attitudes.

Hope Diamond.

So all throughout the trip, people would mistake Ashley and I for the Kids. On the plane ride there, the Flight attendant came up and told us that we had to be 15 to sit in the emergency row. Thanks... see all of those hooligans... we are their teachers.

The Students were kind enough to protect Miss Belnap from the Rain.

The Excitement of being at the top of the Washington Monument made Miss Belnap want to dance

The last day... last group shot.

The Peterson house across from Ford's Theater. This is where Lincoln was taken after he was shot.
Ford's Theater Presidential Box

This is my cute student Alisha. She loves Pandas. She was so happy when we made a quick stop by the zoo so she could see the Pandas that she even cried. She then bought a stuffed panda and named it Bebey (belnap and Sabey combined). I got emotional about historical documents, she got emotional about Pandas.
9-11 Memorial

Our Bus Driver Arthur. Arthur expects Ashely to be married next time we go to DC.

And our Tour Guide Larry. Thanks Larry for making it all possible.

And Lastly... our kids have a great choir teacher... I know this because they sang their choir songs all throughout DC. Thanks kids for keeping us entertained!