On Tuesday, March 14th, we woke up in the morning and everyone met in the lobby of the Fieldhouse Jones hotel at 8:30 to leave for Shedd Aquarium. To get there, we had to get on the brown L-train and then onto the city bus. The ride to our stop was about 15 minutes long, but it didn't feel that way because we were focused on all the stuff going on around us. When we arrived at our stop, we walked across the street and up a big flight of stairs to get in. When we got inside there were a lot of people waiting. All of the students went into the gift shop while Mark and Tracee got our tickets. When all of us had them, the teachers told us when and where to meet for lunch and then turned us all loose to go look at all the sea life.
While I was walking around, some of the things I saw there were an octopus, seahorses, Beluga whales, and even penguins. We also went to a 4D movie about water dinosaurs, which was really cool. When the dinosaurs came out of the water, we got sprayed with a little water from the seat in front of us. We went with a few people to eat lunch, and then walked to the dolphin show and met up with everyone else there. During the dolphin show, we met the dolphins, their personal trainers, a loving rescue dog named Peach, and a few penguins. After that we all walked across the street to the Field Museum. -Jade Simons
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After leaving the Shedd Aquarium, we walked for a little bit and arrived at the Field Museum. It was quite big, and we could easily get lost. They had all types of different cultures to learn about and a bunch of visual learning opportunities; there were fake pyramids with mummies, and a lot of mounted animals like tigers, bears, and other animals for the African exhibit. We watched a movie while we were there about the Terracotta Warriors, and how in the 1800-1900s they were found. It was a revolutionary thing, because it told a lot about the Asian history, and it demonstrated how important the rulers of yesteryear felt their armies were to them. My favorite exhibit would have been the room filled with the gem Jade. There was even a suit made out of it. By far this was my favorite event.
-Brandon Johnson In the evening, we decided to go to the Navy Pier for food and souvenirs. The Navy Pier was on Lake Michigan, only a 10-minute bus ride from the Field House Jones, which is
where we were staying. The students, which included, Nick, Jade, Brandon, Jessie, Mitch, Joey, Chloe, Anton, Braden and I, all had found somewhere to eat. Everyone had either chosen Chinese food, pizza, or fast food. The patio area of the Navy Pier was very windy, but it was worth it! The water was so beautiful, and the color, wow! The color was unbelievable! It was clear and such a bright green/blue. Inside the building were a bunch of souvenir shops. There was a more sporty shop that sold stuff for the “Chicago Bulls”. Mark had gone into a funny shop called “Bubba Gump” with a ton of apparel with quotes and graphic tees from the movie “Forest Gump”. We met up at 5:30 in the main entrance and went back to Field House Jones to gather votes for dinner. It was a lot of fun! -Mars Armstrong The Museum of Science and Industry had its start in 1933. The collection of artifacts ranges from a full-sized airplane, to a coal mine from Southern Illinois, to a zephyr, and more. We spent hours wandering around the museum, checking out the different exhibits. There was even a room which contained a huge fairy castle, built for a silent movie actress Colleen Moore, bringing her love of fairytales to life. There was a hatchery in the museum as well, describing the process of incubation, fertilization, and hatching. We were able to witness two chicks hatching in the time we were there. There were flight simulators to take rides in, and the one we chose was a space chase. The time there was cool, learning about the various industries that formed the foundation for industry in our country.
On Wednesday, we went to Willis Tower. We went up to the 103rd floor, up into the clouds to see the city below. Most of the students went out onto the Skydeck, which is a group of glass bottom boxes that stick out 4.3 feet from Willis Tower. Willis Tower is 1,450 feet high, and it is the twelfth highest building in the world. The entire 103rd floor is made up of glass, making it possible to view every angle of the city for miles. It was exhilarating, terrifying, and exciting all at once!
On Wednesday afternoon, we spent a few hours at the Art Institute of Chicago. Upon entering, the lovely lady in the ticket booth gave us two “must sees”: the Thorne Miniature Rooms and the Impressionism exhibit. I must have spent an hour and a half in the Impressionism area alone, and the paintings in this exhibit were exquisite and truly breathtaking. Having always loved paintings from the Impressionistic Period, I had never seen any of the work in person. There was an entire room devoted to Claude Monet, and I was in heaven! The paintings I had only ever seen in books nearly lept off the walls, with their stunning color and depth of painting. I could have spent hours in that room alone. This was probably my favorite part of the trip to Chicago, spending time gazing at paintings I had never had the pleasure of seeing except in books up until this day. This was definitely an experience to check off of my bucket list! We even hopped over to the Sculpture Park to see the infamous Bean!
-Tracee Colgrove On Thursday morning, we left Chicago and headed to Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. We went to the Jelly Belly Factory and went on a tour. When we got there, we walked through the doors and all we saw were bright colors. There were 50 different kinds of jelly beans you could sample at the sampling bar. After wandering around for a little bit, we were brought to the back to start the tour. We were given hats to wear, because of FDA regulations in the factory. The tour only lasted about 30 minutes. They talked about how Jelly Belly was made and who made it. We learned that President Reagan was addicted to Jelly Belly jelly beans, and he even had a jar just for jelly beans on Air Force One. After the tour we were allowed to wander around some more and buy jelly beans. They even had a section for the misfit jelly beans, which were misshapen, too big, or too small. Those were called “Belly Flops”, and they were sold at a discounted price.
-Nick Morlock-Holm Our final stop on the way home was at Alex Jordan’s House on the Rock. When we entered the building, it seemed like any other museum. The entrance was clean and contained a gift shop, and it was quiet and calming with a fountain. The first building you enter into contains information about Alex Jordan, the man who built the House on the Rock. He began the process by carrying bucket loads of building materials up the rock by himself. He was an eccentric man, and he decided to build the house, because he wanted to have a place to display his interesting collections throughout the years, caring nothing for what others thought about it.
Once we exited the main building, the thrill ride began. Jordan had collections containing hundreds of dolls and doll houses, a room full of circus displays, different types of armor, and three full sized carousels! One section, as we walked in, opened up into a huge room containing a life-sized whale a giant squid!! It reminded me of Moby Dick, and it was incredible to see the recreation of a battle between two massive beasts. Another section contained different cars he had collected through the years. Just as we finished one trip through wonderland, we entered another. The carousels were huge, containing odd creature combinations of people and animals. It was as though we had fallen into the rabbit hole walking through this odd collection of wonders! On Monday morning this week, several students ventured out to Perch Lake in Baxter, Minnesota to do a little ice fishing with Czech and two professional fishing guides and fisherman: J.R. Cooper and Cindy Gibbs. A few of the students fishing had no ice fishing experience, nonetheless, they were able to learn how to fish out on the lake thanks to the leadership of the adults on the trip! The students were excited, even though the weather didn't cooperate. While on Perch Lake, the sky opened up and it rained fairly consistently, leaving them all soaking wet! As you can see by the pictures, they still managed to have a good time fishing!
At the beginning of the new session, we had so many new students filtering into the school that we decided to have a week of activities in order for the students to work together and get to know one another. Our biggest hit was Greg's activity where students picked a small box to stand in, and then as he read the questions, if they applied to them they moved to the BIG box. It showed the students their similarities, and it allowed them to learn they even had things in common with the teachers in the building as well!
By: Tracee Colgrove |
Staff:Kitra Barros Links
June 2020
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