The Chronicles of Room 19: Lansing

There was an awesome amount of excitement as we pull out of the school parking lot, even I could feel it. We had 26, 4th graders ready for a day in Lansing.

 #1 rule for the trip-don't ask when we're getting there. We will be there when we get there.

Per usual the buses were late, which made the students even more giddy as we waited. First stop, well a bathroom break actually, but once we hit Lansing we were off to explore at the Impressions 5 Science Museum.

Let me just say, this whole trip was deja vu to me. I took this exact same trip 12 years ago. Impressions 5, Historical Museum, and Capitol Tour. I was so excited to see it all again, through their eyes.

Impressions 5 did not disappoint. The bubble room was the highlight, and the slime lab we took part in was a lot of fun too. Great way to add science into our very historical/governmental day. By lunch the excitement had grown, and we were ready to hit the historical museum. That is what I remember most of my trip to Lansing. The big pine tree was still there, and it was funny to see those 4th graders just as excited to it as we all were 12 years ago. A dad mentioned to me that it was funny to see a bunch of kids who live in the woods excited to see a pine tree. Had to agree with him on that one.

It was a quick walk over to the Capitol, and when it came into view they all went crazy. One student in particular was super excited, I had never seen him so excited ever! Super cute. Their questions were awesome, and they were at awe of everything that we saw.

Did you know that the Capitol was restored to its entirely in the last 10years to look just as it did in the late 1890s when it first opened?

And that all the lamps that hang in the Capitol all use to run on gas? Or how about that the glass ceiling in the House was recently restored because in the 1930s all the glass was taken out and thrown away and they replaced it with plastic...gross!

Did you know that they have replicas of Civil War flags on the 2nd floor, the glass floor. And they use to have the real things there before the restoration. Did you also know that the glass ceiling in the House includes 110 tiles, 50 of which has the state crests on them? Or that there are over 100 pieces of crystal on the chandlers in the House that get cleaned once a year, the 6 chandlers take 24 hours to clean. Or better yet, did you know the crest of Washington State is just a picture of Washington himself?

Lastly do you know what TUEBOR means in English? I will defend, and it is on almost every hallway light fixture in the Capitol. Amazing!

Enjoy just some of the pictures I took, believe me I took a ton!