School Field Trip Memories

This past Tuesday, I had the honor of accompanying the fourth grade class from Hillside Elementary School to their annual field trip.  Every year for the past 13 years, Hillside's fourth grade makes its annual trek across the Susquehanna River to visit the State Museum and tour the Capitol building.

This got me to thinking about the field trips I took as a kid.  Probably, my fondest memories of my school days are when we took field trips.  I grew up in Pittsburgh, so we had the opportunity to visit a lot of great places.  Frick Museum,  the University of Pittsburgh Nationality rooms, Three Rivers Stadium, along with many, many others.  My favorite was Meadowcroft Village in Avella, PA.  It was about an hour trip from our school, so it was a fun ride filled with songs and games.  I remember singing '99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall' on many of our bus rides.  I don't think that song would be allowed now a days.  Meadowcroft Village is a recreated 19th century village.  Besides the bus ride, I think I liked it just because we could just wander around freely outside and visit the many structures that made up the village

Back to Tuesday's field trip.  We arrived at the school at 8:30 am.  After checking in with the office, we proceeded to the classroom.  We dropped off my younger daughter at her first grade hallway and went upstairs.  Parent chaperones were directed to an empty classroom to be given their student assignments and instructions for the day.  I was assigned my daughter, two girls and two boys.  I knew a few of the kids, so it looked like a good group.

The kids lined up and the parents joined in with their groups.  We traveled down the hallway, the steps and out the door to the bright yellow buses awaiting us in the bus loop.  We set off on our short drive across the river.  Soon, we arrived at the state museum.

The kids were eager to get going.  We all walked down some steps, passed by a Liberty Bell replica, through doors and entered a room where we could store our lunches.  I collected my group of fourth graders and we set off into the museum. Everyone wanted to hit the gift shop, so we got that out of the way first.  The kids selected crystal necklaces, candy, mood rings and more.  Items they surely could have gotten anywhere, but, hey they are 10 year old kids and the money was burning holes in their pockets

William Penn Statue

Artwork at Folk Art Exhibit

With that under our belts, we took a short escalator ride up to the first floor.  In all his glory, William Penn's enormous statue welcomed us.  They kids gathered underneath for a great snapshot and we moved on to the displays in the rest of the floor.  We wandered through the art galleries and studied several pieces of artwork.  The kids discussed whether or not they liked them or even understood what they represented.  In another gallery, we stumbled came upon the exhibit called, "Making It Better:  Folk Arts in Pennsylvania Today."  There were many different representations of culture and style from residents across the state.  Finally we wandered through the Village Square, which is a replica of an old time village.  We only had an hour to explore the museum, so I tried to keep the kids moving so we could make it through the entire place in an hour.  We spent about 20 minutes on each floor. Wish we had more time, but we had to be at the Capitol building at a certain time for our scheduled tour.

View from second floor landing at the State Museum.

After another escalator ride, we arrived on the second floor.  The view from the escalator is quite breathtaking and a little intimidating as well.  That huge open space looking down upon the William Penn Stature, the flags and the mural are an impressive scene in itself.  On the second floor we entered into an area with a Native American Village, Civil War Exhibits and an area with several examples of transportation through the years.  The kids don't really stop to read any of the information that is provided, so we got through the floor in our allotted 20 minutes pretty easily.  So, out to the escalators we went and up to yet another floor full of Pennsylvania treasures.

Ancient Crocodile

Mammoth skeleton

The third floor holds some pretty cool stuff.  We wound our way through the hall of geology and entered the Paleontology exhibit where we viewed some scary looking prehistoric crocodiles, dinosaurs and a mammoth skeleton.  All of which were Pennsylvania inhabitants long before any of us ever existed.  We traveled through the Mammal hall where a variety of preserved animals were arranged in scenic displays behind glass enclosures.  After that, we made our way through several displays of birds, fish, reptiles and other Pennsylvania wildlife.  Our hour was just about up so we went back downstairs to meet up with our group.

Pennsylvania State Capitol Building

Soon, we departed on a walk that took us over to the Capitol building.  We entered through a door near the fountain and prepared to go through security.  There we had to pass through a metal detector and place our bags and belongings in an x-ray machine.  Once everyone was inside, we navigated our way through hallways into the Capitol's main rotunda.  The main rotunda is spectacular.  The kids were quickly lined up on the rotunda's marble steps for the complimentary photo opportunity.  Once the capitol photographer snapped some photos, the tour guide joined us to start our tour.

Main Rotunda

We climbed the magnificent marble staircase and entered the Senate Chamber.  Once inside, you are surrounded by marble, gold leaf, and the murals.  I don't think I heard much of what the tour guide said.  I was just mesmerized by all of the elaborate details surrounding me.  One of the girls in my group pointed out that everything in the building was nice and had designs, even the exit signs and fire extinguishers.

Senate Chamber

Next we visited the State Supreme Court Chambers.  The incredible artwork, the detailed wood work, the distinguished chairs, everything was like something out of a museum.  It's hard to believe that they let people work in this place.

Supreme Court

Soon we were off to the House of Representatives where our State Representative, Sheryl Delozier, met with the kids.  Representative Delozier was kind enough to take time out of her busy day and explain what she does, the rules of the house, how the voting takes place, and where she sits.  Then she stepped aside and allowed our tour guide explain the history and some of the details of the room.  While the tour guide explained the history, a few of us were able to speak with Representative Delozier.  She explained that after smoking was banned in the House, restorers came in and thoroughly cleaned the walls, furniture, fixtures, murals and more.  After the cleaning took place, several of the details in the murals that had been covered in smoke residue for years, became clear again.  I think if I were to work there, I probably not get much done as I would be staring at all the intricate details in the room.

Representative Delozier in the House of Representatives

That was the conclusion of the tour.  We descended through the narrow staircases to an area with several school cafeteria style lunch tables.  We sat down to enjoy our packed lunches and take a rest.  When we were finished we traveled over to the Welcome Center.  The kids were able to learn how laws are made, watch a video and pretend to vote on legislation.  The biggest attraction seemed to be the moving sculpture, where balls make their way through the huge maze.  Several numbers were set up within the sculpture and those numbers coordinated with informational placards listing the steps taken to getting a bill made into law, but no one was really paying attention to those details.  The kids just wanted to watch the balls make their passages through the maze of wire and tubes.  It was soon time for us to make our way back to our school buses and travel back to Hillside.

Ball maze in the Welcome Center

The kids seemed to have a great time and I did, too.  I had a nice group of kids who listened well and stayed together.  The whole fourth grade behaved very well and I even heard the photographer at the capitol comment that kids were very well behaved and he couldn't believe the kids were even shushing their fellow students to be quiet. The fourth grade class from Hillside did a fine job representing their school.  As a parent, I was very proud of them.

Students in Grade 1-5 go on only one field trip per year.  The field trips are funded by the Hillside Parent Teacher Organization.  The money for the field trips is raised by the kids themselves by participating in fundraisers such as the fall product sale and the Spring Dance-A-Thon.  Those of you who have supported fundraisers are directly responsible for allowing the kids to take these yearly trips.  Thank you!

Everyone probably has some favorable memories of school field trips.  What was your favorite school field trip?  Please share in the comments section.  Thanks.

Link to Meadowcroft Village
Link to The State Museum of Pennsylvania
Link to Information on touring the Pennsylvania Capitol