Wednesday through Friday of last week, the eighth graders were treated to a number of field trips. One group of students was in Washington, D.C. touring the monuments, capitol buildings, and museums. Another group of students in Chicago visited the Holocaust Memorial Foundation in Skokie and went on an architectural tour of downtown Chicago. The Chicago group also watched a movie about the conflicts in the Middle East, and performed a dramatic reading of a poem inspired by the movie. You can see a movie of their performance on Mrs. Roche’s blog.
Students: In a comment below, tell us about one place you visited last week that you really enjoyed or found interesting or important. Describe the location, what you saw there and what it meant to you.
46 responses so far ↓
1 Morgan F 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 9, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I was in Chicago for the 3 days.
I like the Holocaust Memorial Foundation in Skokie. The reason I liked that field trip was because I got to learn more then I knew about the Holocaust. We saw so much, as in a box car and the Striped Pajamas. I liked learning about everything but I wish that we got to see some of the movies. But other than that I had a really good time at the museum.
2 Nicole 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 9, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Chicago
The one place where we went was Architectural tour. What I got out of it was we got to see really beautiful exterior of the buildings. If you don’t know what exterior is it the outside of a building. Like, interior that’s the inside of a building.
3 Christian L 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 9, 2009 at 2:47 pm
One of the field trips I went to was the architectural tour in Chicago. I learned that many buildings have a huge window in the inside center part of the building and that they used it for ventilation. Only the old style buildings had them because they didn’t have air conditioners back then. Some people are taking them off some buildings because we already have air conditioners and heaters.
4 Corey W 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 9, 2009 at 2:47 pm
The place we visited was downtown Chicago. Everyone knows Chicago is one of the most coolest cities in the world in my opinion but no one really stops to see the buildings that are there. What I saw was very interesting. For example some of the buildings we past were really old. I never new that. A lot of the buildings were designed by Architects. It looked very hard to design and build. A lot of the buildings had cool names such as the Fisher building. It’s design was cool because they had some really cool carvings such as frogs and angels on the building. I liked how I learned so much of what the buildings are actually about. I recommend for people to stop and look at the buildings.
5 Jason R 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 9, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I think that for me, the place I liked the best was the Arlington National cemetery. The thing I liked the best was the long walk. I thought that the sight of all the graves was sad, but at the same time, very nice. The thing about Washington D.C. was that al the people were/ or seemed kind. This is why I like Washington.
6 Jane R. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 9, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I went to Washington D.C. When I was there I saw a bunch of cool places like The Arlington Cemetery, F.D.R Memorial, Newseum, The White House, and a lot more! It was so cool, but some things were extremely sad. I got a lot of information that I did not know about the certain things about all of the places. I liked the whole thing because I learned so many things about the places that I did not know about before.
7 Sophie W 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:55 am
We went to the Holocaust museum in D.C. I really liked it but it was really sad. I also liked all the museums we went to. Washington was a great trip!
8 Grant K 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:55 am
I went to Washington D.C. It was very exciting. I learned a lot about our country, and enjoyed the trip a lot. My favorite was the newseum.
9 Logan M. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:56 am
DC was pretty awesome. The best place I went during the trip was the Newseum, because it was full of stuff I was interesting part. I thought the least interesting part was Arlington Cemetery – it was cool, but not for 2 1/2 hours.
10 Samantha M 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:57 am
I went to Washington, D.C.
I learned a lot about our capital and historic figures. It was also a fun experience and a social one as well. The memorials were cool, and it was interesting to learn all the little details like the height of the statues cannot be bigger then liberty, etc.
11 Nathan F. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:58 am
I went to Washington D.C. last week, and it was a very fun trip. My grade was able to see many things, and my favorite was the Holocaust museum. It was sad to learn more about the Holocaust then i already had known.
12 Haley H 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:58 am
My favorite place to visit in Washington, D.C. was the World War II Memorial. I really enjoyed this memorial because it was one of the newer memorials, and when it was lit it was beautiful. I also liked this memorial a lot because I have two grandfathers who fought in this war, so I have learned a lot about it.
13 Shane 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:59 am
I went to D.C and thought it was lots of fun it was really interesting because i saw a lot of monuments that were really famous. i really like the holocaust museum because i learned a lot of new stuff about the holocaust
14 Danny H. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 8:59 am
When I went to Washington D.C I had a great experience traveling with friends. One of my favorite places in Washington has to be the arlington cemetery. I enjoyed this because we learned alot about the people buried there. I enjoyed seeing our former president John F. Kennedy’s gravesight and also his two brothers Ted Kennedy and Robert Kenndey.
15 Billy 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:00 am
When i went to Washington D.C. i had a lot of fun going to the arlington cemetery. This was fun because we got to see where J.F.K. was buried, and we got to see the changing of the guard ceremony. This was very fun especially right after when people from our own school did the wreath ceremony, which was really cool.
16 Adam E 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:00 am
When I went to D.C., my favorite place we visited was the Lincoln Memorial. This was my favorite place we went to because there was the Lincoln memorial which was really cool considering it was a huge scale sculpture of the 16th president. Also, near one of the steps was an engraving of where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream Speech.” I thought that was really cool.
17 Hannah A 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:00 am
I went to Washington D.C. The thing I liked best in D.C was the Newseum. The Newseum was very different from all the other museums because it was a lot of pictures. But instead of learning about what was happening in the pictures, we were learning about the pictures. I thought it was very interesting to look at the news from around the world and see other people’s perspectives on what is happening. The Newseum was also one of the only things I haven’t seen before.
18 Joseph R 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:01 am
I went to Washington D.C. and I liked when we went to Mid evil times a dinner and a show. I enjoyed this since I’ve always been a fan of knights and kings. the best part is that we had the bad guy, it’s always more fun than rooting for the good guy.
19 Young K 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:01 am
I hated D.C. because it was all walking. I thought the hotel rooms were fun. My favorite thing about the trip to D.C. was when we went to the Smithsonian because there were a few interesting things.
20 Adam C 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:02 am
When I went to Washington D.C. My favorite place we visited was the holocaust museum. This museums building structure was very unique I felt like the full building was built inside of another building, because of all the layers of windows surrounding it. The museum had many shocking and surprising facts and pieces of information. This museum really opened my eyes to a new view of world war 2 and equal rights.
21 Drew M 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:02 am
I went to D.C. and it was the best school trip I have ever been on. It was both powerful and exciting. I personally thought that the Holocaust Museum because it was just a shock to see what they did to these people and how many people they did this to. Many of the other memorials and cemeteries were sad and heartfelt but the Museum told you more about it.
22 William L 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:02 am
Going to Washington was a fun experience for me and time seemed to fly by. I would be happy to go through our tour again because it was very interesting. My favorite thing on the trip was our visit to Arlington Cemetery. There are so many things there that are amazing in the Cemetery, like the amount of quiet there, and how powerful the over all place feels. Over all this was an amazing trip that i liked.
23 Elizabeth 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:03 am
I went to Washington and it was a great trip but some of the places we went to were a little depressing. Like the Arlington Cemetery, there were so many headstones… We went to a new museum called the Newsuem, it had lots of cool stuff like Pulitzer Prize pictures. We also went to Medieval Times for dinner and it was so much fun! You can’t really explain what it was like unless you were there. But it was very entertaining. And if you have a maturity of a six year old like me… well if you ever go there, it’ll bring the kid in you out too.
24 Michael K. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:05 am
I went to Washington D.C. for the school field trip. My favorite place that I saw while on the trip was the World War II memorial. I don’t know why this was my favorite place but it just stood out to me. When we were getting there the sun had just set and lights lit the memorial and the fountains. This illuminated the memorial in a yellow light. It was beautiful. Why this memorial has special meaning was because my grandfather was an air force pilot in World War II and knew a few men who died while at the war so it represents them. There were many other places we visited but the World War II memorial was my favorite.
25 Chris C. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:05 am
Washington D.C.
The most interesting thing in Washington D.C. to me was the Holocaust Museum. It was very disturbing. It was interesting because I never knew that Hitler killed some people, but I never knew that he killed 11-12 million people. That is inhumane. The first thing that I saw when I walked into the museum was a picture of dead, burned people. They all looked like black skeletons’. It also described how the people would be killed. They were put into fire chambers. Hitler killed about 5-6 million Jews, Catholics, disabled people, and anyone who couldn’t work for him.
26 Ryan H 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:06 am
One of the most interesting place I went to Washington D.C. was the Holocaust Memorial. I also felt amazed when I saw the White House too. My favorite place was the Newseum because there were tons of interesting things that would blow your mind!
27 Mel R 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:06 am
In Washington DC, everything is unique and authentic. I loved seeing the actual declaration of independence that was signed by our founding fathers so many years ago. I loved how interactive all the museums were; especially the 4D movie at the newseum. What i was most excited to see was the white house because i used to read alot of books and study the the white house and it has been a goal of mine to one day visit the white house in person. I loved becoming closer friends with my classmates on the trip. I think the Washington trip in general is something about middle school i will always remember.
28 Elizabeth S. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:06 am
I went to Washington D.C. We went to many cool places like the Newseum, Capitol Building, F.D.R. Memorial, and the Washington Monument. I really liked the Newseum, which is a museum all about news. We watched a 4-D movie there. I also really enjoyed going to the Smithsonian, because there are so many things to look at and learn about. I loved going to Washington D.C. and I would like to go there again.
29 Kathryn M. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:07 am
I went to Washington D.C. last week. A few of my favorite places that we visited was the Holocaust Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Newseum. The Holocaust Museum was very interesting but also pretty sad. In the Smithsonian Museum of American History, we saw Kermit the frog, and the ruby slippers. We also saw a 4D movie in the newseum. It was about Washington D.C. and then we went to Mount Vernon to see George Washington’s house. I had a lot of fun.
30 Michelle O 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:07 am
I went to Washington D.C. It was extremely fun but tiring. We saw a lot of cool and interesting things that were historic and sad like the Jefferson memorial and Arlington National cemetery. All in all Washington D.C. was great!
31 nick p 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:08 am
Im Nick and i went to d.c and had a great time! One of my favorite part was going to midd evil times. This was fun because we got to eat and watch a play. it was not only fun but it was cool too! They had lots of cool stuff that you could buy in the shops.
32 Marion L. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:08 am
When I was in Washington D.C. last week, I went to the Holocaust Museum. I thought that was a very meaningful and worthwhile experience. I also really liked the Newseum, especially the 4D movie and the Smithsonian Museum of American History with Dorothy’s ruby slippers and Kermit the frog. All the places we went were very interesting, but I wish we had more time in each one.
33 Kristina K. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:08 am
Last week, I went to Washington D.C…I liked all the different places we visited but I liked the Lincoln Memorial, the Newseum, and the World War II Memorial the best. At the Newseum we were able to see all the news and events in history. The Lincoln Memorial was fun to see because we really only see it in pictures, but I was able to see it up close, and because I also fell down the stairs…:) I liked the World War II Memorial because it was really…”pretty” because of the fountains.
34 Inbal H. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:09 am
I went to Washington D.C. I liked, or maybe better to say I think was very important, was the Holocaust museum. Even that I knew before a lot about it, I saw new things that make me feel helpless and so small near this huge scary thing. But after all, I think that it is very important, to me, to know about it.
35 Amanda N 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:09 am
My favorite place I went to while in DC was the Holocaust Museum. I have a fascination for the Holocaust so I found it very interesting. I like how they made us feel connected by giving us an ID card of an actual person who lived during the holocaust. It gives you the background information of your person and as you go to each floor you read the next page of your person’s life. On the last floor you find out whether or not your person lived. Unfortunately, my person was killed on arrival to a death camp. The Holocaust museum also had pictures of the torturing and experiments, movies that showed dead bodies being plowed through the ground, and actual artifacts that were found at the death camps, such as the bunkers, an incinerator, a boxcar, and there was even a whole room of their shoes. This was important to me because, being a Jew, 6 million of my people were murdered during this time. I have relatives that fought in the war and I know people who had family members who perished during the holocaust. The experience made an impression in my mind and it is one that I will never forget.
36 Christopher P. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:09 am
I went to Washington D.C. for the school field trip. we visited a number of interesting places. I’d say that the Arlington national cemetery was the most impressive, because of the sheer number of people who are buried there in such a small number of years. there were several memorials we went to, but my favorite was probably the Washington or Lincoln memorial. we went to several museums, all of which were very impressive and interesting, but I’d say we could have appreciated them more if we had had more time. I liked how, unlike in Springfield, we didn’t have to answer any questions, which made us pay attention only to whatever the question was, not the whole. All in all, I liked Washington, but the beds could have been bigger. we had to alternate, and on the second night I got the floor. on the other hand it was about as cold and hard as my bed anyway, a nice reminder of home
37 Zoy W. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:10 am
I went to Washington D.C. for the first time on November 4th. I thought the trip was enjoyable because I loved the memorials, monuments, building, cemeteries, museums, and the medieval times dinner. I also learned a lot from the trip and saw lots of beautiful memorials and monuments, such as the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. I would recommend this trip because it was a great experience for me.
38 Marissa R. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:10 am
Washington D.C.
I went to Washington D.C. We were there for 3 days (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday). When were were there, we went to various memorials, such as the F.D.R. memorial, World War 2 memorial, and the Iwo Jima memorial, and we also toured Arlington Cemetery and the Library of Congress. We also went to many museums such as the Newseum, Holocaust Museum, Air and Space Museum, etc. The White House and Capitol Building was also pretty cool! My favorite thing that we went to in D.C. was the Newseum. I really enjoyed this museum because they showed many pictures that won the Pulitzer Prize over a long period of time and they also had a special exhibit called “FBI 100.” I really liked this exhibit because it showed many objects that the FBI found that belonged to famous criminals. One of the criminals that lived in Chicago, IL was John Wayne Gacy. The exhibit included a clown pictures that he drew and painted and also letters he wrote. I also found the Holocaust museum very interesting because it showed what World War 2 was like for people in the concentration camps. They showed very interesting films, pictures, and also many objects that belonged to the people in the concentration camps. Overall, this trip was an amazing experience, was so much fun, and I learned a lot!
39 Geri 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:10 am
When staying for 3 days in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C, i had a great time! It was a great opportunity and I feel bad for the others not able to come. “Educationally”, I liked about the trip was the Newseum. I found it very intriguing. I cried, I laughed, I got infuriated. The pictures that were taken for the Newseum was very heart felt. The most “non-educational” place I liked was the Medieval Times restaurant. It was fun, exhilarating, and a great experience! I’m glad I went to Washington! I was pretty disappointed in the Smithsonian because the The American History Museum wasn’t very exciting and didn’t have a lot of stuff.
“But there was a Bison’s butt that you took a picture of with Jamie!”-Elizabeth
“And that was pretty cool!” -Geri
40 Timothy C 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:11 am
Probably the most intriguing place we visited on the trip was the Holocaust Museum. I had known for a long time that the Holocaust was not something to take lightly, but it had never occurred to me just how much of an impact it really had. The treatment of those in the camps were much worse than what I had envisioned. After viewing much of the museum, not much could be said. It had a very melancholy effect to anyone who went through it. However, the comments of those saying how the Holocaust has come and gone, how it was of no importance, was rather disturbing.
41 Marina C. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:11 am
When we went to Washington D.C. one of the things we saw were the Smithsonian Museums. The two I liked most were the American History Museum and the Natural History Museum. I loved the American History Museum because you got to see pieces of interesting history like Dorothy’s shoes and Kermit the Frog. I like history like this because you can actually see it instead of just hearing about in in books.
I loved the Natural History Museum because I loved seeing all the stuffed animals. I thought it was pretty cool, but also sad. They also had many extinct animals which you can’t see anymore so it was nice to see what they look like in real life then in a picture book. Also in that Natural History Museum was the Hope Diamond and other cool stone. I loved seeing all the different kinds of rocks that they had.
42 Krista M 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:11 am
I went to D.C. It was amazing! It was lots of fun learning with friends and seeing all the memorials, museums, and monuments. My favorite memorials were the World War 2 memorial, and the Lincoln memorial. It was so beautiful and alluring. My favorite museums were the natural history museum, the american history museum, and the newseum because the museums were very enlightening, eye-opening, and delightful. So all in all I learned a lot, had tons of fun, and I missed dearly my friends back at home!!!! =)
43 Jamie 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:12 am
I really enjoyed the time I spent in Washington D.C. Probably one of my favorite memorials we visited in Washington was the Lincoln memorial. You see the Lincoln memorial everyday in life, it’s a famous American monument. It was cool to actually see it up close. Overall, a thought the trip to Washington was very interesting and I learned a lot about our nation’s capital.
44 Sammy V. 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:15 am
The thing I most liked about D.C. was the marine soldiers holding up the U.S. flag. It was a big and tall statue which stood close to 20 ft tall. I thought this statue was really important to American history and looked really cool because of the optical illusion.
45 Noah M 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:20 am
The part of D.C. that was most interesting to me was the Holocaust museum. It was the most interesting part because I learned so much about the terrible killings and about Hitler from this one museum.
46 Michael G 192.168.32.18 not found // Nov 10, 2009 at 9:24 am
I think that the holocaust museum was the most important because knowing what caused the holocaust can help prevent it from happening again.
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