2013-2014
On December 12, 2013, the students went Christmas tree hunting and sledding. The students learned about the different types of pine trees, how to itemize the costs involved for taking the trip, how to use a tree's shadow length to calculate the height of the tree, how to calculate the vertical distance of the sledding hill after estimating the slope in degrees, which type of saw teeth a person should use to cut down your tree, and then they learned the history of how the tradition of Christmas and Santa originated, where sledding originated and how it relates to Native Americans, and the origin of Christmas carols. They also had to write an explorer's journal about something on the trip using absolutes and appositives correctly. The students had so much fun that they hope to set this as a school tradition.
On March 29-April 1, 2014, the students took off on a 4-day trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota. After working the annual school carnival the night before, a very tired group hit the road. Our first stop was the pictograph caves near Billings. We then drove to the Waterworks Art Museum in Miles City where the featured art displays followed the theme "The Year of the Horse." We then chartered on to new territories, going through Plevna and Baker to Medicine Rocks State Park where everyone got to let their hair down and run off some steam, climbing on the rocks and exploring until almost dark. We stayed the night in Ekalaka at the Carter County High School. Our first visit the next morning was just down the street at the very cool Carter County Museum where Chioko talked to us about the history of Ekalaka and the dinosaurs there. Everyone has to say they have been to Alzada, so we took a quick stop there, then headed on to Devil's Tower. The damage from the terrible 4' snow in October that killed thousands of cattle and horses was evident, leaving broken trees everywhere. Then it was on to Jewel Cave. Or so we thought...when we got there it was closed, so off to the final part of our day at Hot Springs, South Dakota. We stayed in the very quaint Historic Log Cabins overlooking the town of Hot Springs and went swimming at the very fun, Evan's Plunge Hot Springs.
The next morning we awoke to snow and two sick people. We headed to our first destination of the day which was Crazy Horse Memorial. We got to ride our bus to the base of the mountain with a guide to explain everything. We also ate delicious Buffalo Stew and Native American Tacos and toured the beautiful museum. We next headed to Mount Rushmore, but it was closed due to the terrible storms and roads to the North. We ended up in Keystone while trying to decide what to do with the rest of our day. It was determined to back track to the south to get to Gillette, instead of chancing the roads and our previous schedule of stopping in Lead and Deadwood. We had supper in Gillette and half the group went to the Recreation Center for some tennis and racquetball, while the other half chilled at the hotel. The next morning two more people were sick as we headed to Fort Phil Kearney north of Buffalo. We toured the museum and fort there and learned a lot about the Bozeman Trail, as well as how the Irish potato famine effected people clear out in Wyoming. It was so foggy at Fetterman's Massacre site that we just turned around then headed on to Wagon Box Site. As we were leaving Wagon Box, the bus got stuck in the snow. A kind farmer pulled us out with his tractor and got us on our way again. Our next stop was at Don King's Saddlery in Sheridan, where there is a really neat mix of the modern and old west cowboys. We picked up pizza on the way through Billings and headed home. The overall favorite parts of the trip were Crazy Horse and the Medicine Rocks State Park.
On March 29-April 1, 2014, the students took off on a 4-day trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota. After working the annual school carnival the night before, a very tired group hit the road. Our first stop was the pictograph caves near Billings. We then drove to the Waterworks Art Museum in Miles City where the featured art displays followed the theme "The Year of the Horse." We then chartered on to new territories, going through Plevna and Baker to Medicine Rocks State Park where everyone got to let their hair down and run off some steam, climbing on the rocks and exploring until almost dark. We stayed the night in Ekalaka at the Carter County High School. Our first visit the next morning was just down the street at the very cool Carter County Museum where Chioko talked to us about the history of Ekalaka and the dinosaurs there. Everyone has to say they have been to Alzada, so we took a quick stop there, then headed on to Devil's Tower. The damage from the terrible 4' snow in October that killed thousands of cattle and horses was evident, leaving broken trees everywhere. Then it was on to Jewel Cave. Or so we thought...when we got there it was closed, so off to the final part of our day at Hot Springs, South Dakota. We stayed in the very quaint Historic Log Cabins overlooking the town of Hot Springs and went swimming at the very fun, Evan's Plunge Hot Springs.
The next morning we awoke to snow and two sick people. We headed to our first destination of the day which was Crazy Horse Memorial. We got to ride our bus to the base of the mountain with a guide to explain everything. We also ate delicious Buffalo Stew and Native American Tacos and toured the beautiful museum. We next headed to Mount Rushmore, but it was closed due to the terrible storms and roads to the North. We ended up in Keystone while trying to decide what to do with the rest of our day. It was determined to back track to the south to get to Gillette, instead of chancing the roads and our previous schedule of stopping in Lead and Deadwood. We had supper in Gillette and half the group went to the Recreation Center for some tennis and racquetball, while the other half chilled at the hotel. The next morning two more people were sick as we headed to Fort Phil Kearney north of Buffalo. We toured the museum and fort there and learned a lot about the Bozeman Trail, as well as how the Irish potato famine effected people clear out in Wyoming. It was so foggy at Fetterman's Massacre site that we just turned around then headed on to Wagon Box Site. As we were leaving Wagon Box, the bus got stuck in the snow. A kind farmer pulled us out with his tractor and got us on our way again. Our next stop was at Don King's Saddlery in Sheridan, where there is a really neat mix of the modern and old west cowboys. We picked up pizza on the way through Billings and headed home. The overall favorite parts of the trip were Crazy Horse and the Medicine Rocks State Park.