As you may have noticed already we took a trip to Madison, Wisconsin and it was definitely worth the 6 am departure! Besides we got a new book that I really, really wanted! Thanks again Jonathan! When first arriving in Madison I immediately notice how very clean the city is! I would like to use the pictures of the city to show my kids why it is important to clean up your town and show pride.
Our morning was impressive as we were shown the amazing amount of resources the teachers in Wisconsin have developed to help their students. I would love to see Colorado step up and do a similar project. Their museum was entertaining and the displays were eye catching even though they didn’t use any flashy screens or interactive demos. Our guide was a very knowledgeable woman who gave great examples of how we can incorporate these ideas into our classroom. I especially enjoyed the displays of a living room and dining room from the 80’s where she asks kids if they can tell the story of the family based of what they see. She points out that with out the main piece (the person) it is impossible to know the whole story and that history is a guess on the way people lived using the clues that were left behind. She also made reference to the way our history isn’t being recorded because we use so many forms of technology and there is no way to have a record of those things. I know I never thought about it so I know my kids never have! Another idea was for a shoe box excavation, where I bury items in a show box of dirt and the kids attempt to make guesses about the lifestyle of the person by the clues they find in the dirt! It is an amazingly tactile way of thinking and my young kids need that to get a grasp on hard ideas.
After tackling a great lunch at the Great Dane Pub we went to Jonathan’s alma mater and had discussions with several knowledgeable men. I was so impressed with the documents we were able to examine and lost track of time reading through the scrapbook of a man who was instrumental in the labor movement. Touching that kind of history gives me such chills! I don’t see how I could connect it to my class other then telling them about how amazing it was. It was nice to know that many of those materials are available for me to read and look at on-line.
To cap off this wonderful day we went to the pier and listened to some live music, watched the lake, and ate some tasty snacks!
