The Adventures of a 4th Grade Class
Written by: Quinten, Alyssa, Ronald, Maren, Daymon, Yuletzy, Emilia, Elsie, Will, Dibanhi, Christian, Mariah, Silas, and Alexis
On March 8, 9, and 10th, the 4th grade class took off on an exciting adventure. From New Bern, to Raleigh, to Colonial Williamsburg, students explored early colonial history, North Carolina government, and scientific discoveries. We started off early on Tuesday morning taking the Cedar Island ferry, math work in hand, headed for New Bern.
When we reached New Bern, we went to Tryon Palace. We went into a time machine and it took us back to 1835. When we went out of the time machine, we had different jobs to do that reflected the time period. Ronald said, “Being in the time machine felt like we were going back in time.”
We then toured Tryon Palace. We explored the servants’ quarters, the kitchen, the governor’s bedroom, and the children’s rooms.
Christian commented, “The house was very historical and I could imagine I was with Governor Tryon.”
We visited a blacksmith who gave us real nails he had made. Later on we played different colonial games that children would have played.
Maren remembered, “When we played tug-of-war, it was girls versus boys. Of course, the girls won!” (For the record, the boys won one game of tug-of-war as well!)
In Durham, we stayed at the La Quinta Hotel. There we ate pizza from Amante’s. Then we got ready for the Broadway musical The Lion King at the Durham Performing Arts Center. The performance was from 7:00-10:00pm. The performance was magical – with large elephants dancing down the aisles.
Elsie stated, “We couldn’t take our eyes off the play. It was amazing.”
Will added, “My favorite part was when Mufasa died.”
We all really enjoyed the show. The musical had a lot of songs like, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, In the Jungle, Hakuna Matata, and last but not least, The Circle of Life. The costumes were unique, the actors were phenomenal, and the set was creative.
On Wednesday morning, March 9th, we went to downtown Raleigh. Our first stop was the Capitol building. There we saw a statue of George Washington. He was dressed like Mars, the Greek god of war. We also saw the old Senate room and the House of Representatives.
Alexis stated, “The Capitol Building was really huge. The rotunda was gigantic.”
Mariah even remember the story when, “a guy fell through the rotunda, because he was doing a painting job. That was kind of sad.”
We also experienced a tornado drill while in the Capitol. We had to go to the bottom floor of the building and crouch down, just like we do at school.
Outside of the building, Silas saw, “a statue of the three Presidents from North Carolina: Andrew Johnson, Andrew Jackson, and James Polk. I thought the statue was amazing.”
Our next stop was the Executive Mansion. It was fantastic. In the past, the kids who lived in the mansion roller skated in the ballroom. They have marks on the ballroom floor from the roller skates. Governor Pat McCrory lives in the mansion now. He has a dog named Moe. We were able to see many of the rooms on the bottom floor. We also saw portraits of past governors. There are pictures of the first ladies, and of one first man!
Yuletzy commented that she was impressed that “the carpet had different dates on it. I wish I could live there, because there are big chandeliers.”
The next stop was the Legislative Building. It was amazing. We sat in the Senate chamber and we could look down on where the actual Senators worked. We were shown how the senators voted. The senators have to vote within five seconds. They had a special welcome for our school (but they spelled Ocracoke incorrectly). We learned a lot. We also saw a red carpet that goes all the way down this big staircase. No one can walk on it, because it cost too much money to keep it clean.
After that we had a great lunch from Pharaoh’s, located in the History Museum. The History museum itself was a wonderful place. There were many exhibits, like the one on the early history of North Carolina. We also saw the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and the 1920’s drug store (back then they had a lot of candy there!). The science museum was also very cool. We saw a blue whale. It is about a foot longer than the humpback whale. There was also a room filled with butterflies. Butterflies live in 85 degree weather. They can camouflage themselves. We saw this big dinosaur room where there were pterodactyls flying over us. We also saw an exhibit with cave men and early humans.
After leaving the museums, we drove to Williamsburg. When we got there, we enjoyed a relaxing and yummy meal at The Olive Garden.
Alyssa said, “I just wanted to eat all of it! I got so full.”
We settled into the Colonial Williamsburg hotel, The Woodlands, after a full day of fun.
Our adventure in Colonial Williamsburg was awesome. First we stopped at the Governor’s mansion. It was a lot like Tryon Palace, except that this was the Virginia Governor’s palace. The entrance hall had old-fashioned muskets and knives. We snuck upstairs with our wonderful tour guide, Valerie, and we saw the bedrooms and the parlor. We also found our way through an outdoor maze made out of bushes. It was really tall and we couldn’t see over it. The grownups went up to a platform to watch us. All they could see were the tops of our heads!
Dibanhi remembered, “In the maze we tried to go to the center, but we couldn’t go under any bushes. It was fun, but it made me nervous.”
Next we visited a cooper who made barrels and then Valerie took us to a well. At the well, we got to pull up buckets of water. We learned that it would take 100 buckets of water to fill up a bathtub. Our final group stop was the Capitol building. There, we got to reenact when colonial leaders argued about independence from Britain. We also held a trial there. Emilia was put on trial for stealing a ring from Will. Elsie was the witness and Sundae was the Royal Governor. Emilia was found guilty.
Emilia commented, “I really had fun being put on trial, but I know I wasn’t guilty.”
We learned the punishments of the court. If people didn’t receive mercy from the court, they were hanged. If they did receive mercy, they were still branded.
Daymon commented, “I loved it when we got to see the branding sticks – m for manslaughter and t for thief.”
We had lunch in a tavern. The tavern was rebuilt, but the cellar was original. In the tavern, we were entertained with card tricks. We also listened to colonial music. After lunch, we split into our chaperone groups. The girls went to the wig place. There they saw fancy wigs with fancy accessories, like boats. They went to the bakery where they found delicious chocolate. Finally, the ladies ended up at the Geddy House where they saw what a goldsmith does. Then they played a traditional colonial game for women that involved coins. Yuletzy earned all of them! The boys went to the magazine where they saw all of the guns, cannons, and powder. They found out that Lord Dunmore took all the gunpowder and hid it a mile away and the people in Colonial Williamsburg didn’t feel safe. Finally, the gentlemen got to see a colonial soldier fire his musket.
Quinten recalled, “I loved it when we saw the guy shooting the gun.”
In conclusion, on our 4th grade field trip we went to amazing places filled with history. Tryon Palace, The Lion King, government buildings in our state capital, museums, and Colonial Williamsburg were wonderful places to visit. A special thanks to our parents Sundae, Lena, Flor, and Celeste for joining us. A huge thanks to Clayton for getting us there and back safely. Also, we want to tell our parents and families how much we appreciate all of the hard work they put into raising money for this trip and to the community for supporting us. We learned so much from each place and we made so many memories. It truly was a trip we will never forget!
