CCS Philadelphia V (earlier enteries come below in Blogdom)

3/23/09
Last day is over and kids are packed, ready, and excited to go. Today we toured the Mint, which some of the kids thought was boring, because nothing was turned on, no-one was working, and they didn’t get to see where the cash was made (only coins). Other kids thought it was interesting because of the process of cutting and stamping the metal, and the sheer volume of coins produced. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed so we have no pictures of the Mint.
After lunch we visited the Seaport Museum, but by this time in the week, kids were pretty saturated and did not absorb much. However, when we went inside a real WWII submarine then through the oldest floating iron-sided warship (1892!), they were amazed and engaged! Pretty cool.
We spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping and Art In Public Places along South Street with famous Philly Cheese Steaks for dinner. We wrapped up the week with a rousing (and rowdy) game of Philadelphia Jeopardy in the hotel.
A great week, but kids can’t wait to see their parents (and their own beds!) tomorrow!

CCS Philadelphia IV (earlier enteries come below in Blogdom)

3/22/09 We walked across town arriving at the Franklin Institute at 9:30, with a plan to leave at 2 PM; we had to drag students out as they locked the doors behind us at 5 PM! Science exhibits about space, electricity, trains, anatomy, machines, motion, sports, and planetarium and 3D shark shows kept us ALL engaged. A wonderful day of learning. For dinner we headed to west Philly for Ethiopian food, served on a big family platter and eaten with the fingers. Quite a cultural experience! Sorry, no student comments today.

CCS Philadelphia III (earlier enteries come below in Blogdom)

3/21/09
Today (Saturday)we walked to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and, after a short tour then lunch, kids explored the museum in small groups. The medieval weaponry wing was a big hit particularly with the younger boys. On the group dynamics front, patience are running short with some kids as they experience their first long trip with non-family. This is a perfect opportunity for us to teach, and them to practice, our social skills and self-awareness ends! This has continued to be an awesome cultural exposure trip as well, from all of the European art to the Indian Buffet we went to for dinner last night. Super Trip so far! tc

Josh- So far the trip has had its ups its downs and its good and bad. We been in Philadelphia for three days and we have been to The Institute of Art, Reading Terminal Market, The Constitution Center, China Town and had a great tour of Old Town. We have seen some interesting people and lots of old buildings. I have been having a good couple of days so far and hope it stays that way for the rest of the trip. Thank you so much for sending us to Philadelphia every one.

Zienna:
So….we’re in Philadelphia. So far, we’ve gone to an art museum, the Constitution Center and a market run by the Pennsylvania Dutch (their food is yummy).
Molly and I have been stalked by a beggar and suspiciously glanced at by a hooded figure. Last night, I got to see my daddy, after some reeeeeally lame movie called “Knowing”. The water here tasted not quite as appetizing as Crestone’s, but this place is fun anyways. Thomas keeps having us go out into the middle of the road when the light-up signs say “stop”. I swear we’re going to get run over next time. ;)

Mahryan:
Yeah were in Philadelphia! We went to the printing press to learn more about Benjamin Franklin. I learned how to use a printing press. We went to reading terminal market. We went to the Constitution center. I am having a great time.

Waylon: Hi! I had fun today and went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and I was bored for a really long time until we got to the medieval section which was pretty cool. After that I went back to the hotel. Now I’m doing my blog entry.

Nick:
At the art museum we saw ancient Chinese art like tomb statues. I liked the fact that almost every thing in the museum was the original. My favorite section was the arms and armor section they had swords from thousands of years ago they have early age pistols and rifles and they had the best armor. Philadelphia rocks!!!!

Molly:
My class and I went to the Philadelphia art museum yesterday, to look around and see all kinds of amazing artifacts. My personal opinion was that it didn’t really feel like art, but more like someone’s kitchen decorations, but it doesn’t really matter anyway. My favorite artifact there was a fountain built in the 1200, it was supposedly used for high priests in their garden, it was a really beautiful place, with perfect lighting, and great texture. I hope I get to go back to that specific spot someday.

CCS Philadelphia II (earlier enteries come below in Blogdom)

3/20

On Friday we spent the morning at the Constitution center. We watched a multi-format presentation (video, still images, actors, soundtracks, etc in a cool round theater) that explained the process and motivation of writing the Constitution. We then spent an hour exploring facets of the Constitution through a variety of interactive station: the 3 branches of government, how history has influenced and created the amendments and articles, and Schuyler had an activity where kids were to view the exhibit through the eyes of a fictional character (of different age, gender, race, socio-economic status, etc). Lastly we went through an African American retrospective that chronicled the history of Africans becoming an influential, and critical, part of the American experience, from the slave ship to freedom, from discourse to recourse, and from music and art to the increasing influence on today's world.

We finished up by heading for lunch at Reading Terminal Market and out to a movie in the afternoon. tc

Soleil:
It is really moist here and I love it. Yesterday I went to look at all those historic places… like where the Declaration of Independence was made. I also liked when we went and saw the Liberty Bell. The Liberty Bell was all pretty and I liked the crack in it because it made it more interesting to me. I like that we are walking because it gives us all exercise but my feet are killing me so bad. I loved Chinatown it was so cool. The food was amazing and I liked all the shops. Today we went to a museum called The National Constitution Center. It had a whole bunch of stuff and I saw outfits from Prince, James Brown, and a whole bunch of people. I saw a KKK outfit it was amazing and very interesting. So…so far I have been having a great time (besides my feet hurting) and I love you all back in Crestone. See you soon.

Ben: It is pretty smoggy and moist. I figured out how the liberty bell got cracked.

Nick:
This city is the most historic city I have ever seen; it is also the most magnificent. The only bad thing I have seen is a bit of smog in the sky.
Rylei:
The plane ride was long and boring and I had to wake up at 4:30 am. When we got here I had to go to bed at 10:00 pm!! Then the next day I had to walk for a really long time! I do not like walking! Then today I had to walk again to see a silly museum! Then I went and got some food, that part was ok. I love food. Now I am relaxing at the hotel and it is nice.

Trevor:
I noticed that the atmosphere in Philadelphia is much different than in Crestone. The Pollution for one thing, but also just the feeling of the city. We are staying in downtown Philadelphia, so the buildings are pretty tall and we have a pretty good view of the surrounding buildings. So I would say that Philadelphia is a much different experience than even Denver, the architecture, the people, and just the layout of the city is much different.

Middle School in Philadelphia

3 /19/09
After travelling to Philadelphia, on 3/18 our group of 13 middle school students and 5 adults, ate some pizza and bedded down in a hotel in the heart of the city. On the 19th we walked into the old city and explored: Ben Franklin’s post office and a printing press, archeological Living Heritage Museum, a Quaker meeting house, a walking tour focused on Thomas Jefferson, and of course, the Liberty Bell, and Independence Hall, the birthplace of the United States of America. Here we are in from of Independence Hall:For dinner we walked into Chinatown and had a great meal (some kids even tried Jellyfish!). Hopefully all that walking will lead to a good nights sleep. tc

Huitzi:
In my first day of Philadelphia I noticed that many people are grouchier than in Crestone and are a lot busier. The streets here are much narrower than in Crestone, in fact they are like the ones in New York, but much less filthy and the buildings are older.



Zac:
The city of Philadelphia is close together and really busy. Today I saw a bus not able to make a turn around the corner because there was a car in its way even though it was parked off to the side of the street. Leaf and I only saw very few alleyways, probably only three or four. The first time I looked UP in Philadelphia I felt afraid of heights seeing 17 story buildings on either side of me.