Eiteljorg Field Trip

Today I went on a field trip with Spencer's class to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians. But before we get to the museum, I just have to mention a few things about what went on in the classroom before we got on the bus.

First, kids who are going on a field trip are always SUPER excited.  Seriously.  Second,  kids who say they don't need to go to the bathroom always need to - right when you're leaving.  Third, kids are funny and love being able to talk to their friends' moms.

Fourth, my kids have mentioned that they listen to announcements every morning.  What I didn't realize is that they are also watching the announcements.  This is done, I'm assuming, through some sort of webcast software that the teacher connects to with her laptop and projector.  This in itself was pretty impressive to me, because I still vividly remember the first time I went into a computer lab - in the SECOND GRADE.  Apparently I went to school in the stone ages.

Anywho, the announcements started with Karen Carpenter's song "Sing" playing on, what sounded like to me, a record player.  This tickled me for some reason; I mean, Karen Carpenter?  Random.

*Side note: because I'm wicked, I totally wished they had been playing Karen Carpenter's "Superstar" instead.  Yes, a rather inappropriate choice for grade schoolers, but then I totally would have sung along with it, much like in one of the best movies of all time. You know you were thinking it, too.



The principal (Dr. Schirack) and his vice principal (Mr. Ridenour?) are seated at a desk and they give the announcements and show pictures of the kids who have birthdays that day, which is pretty cool.  The "acting" and the video quality were pretty, well, elementary, but it was all quite charming.  This also tickled me, mainly because it reminded me of nothing so much as the morning announcements you could watch on tv on our cruise, and anything that reminds me of our cruise is good by me.

Anyways, we loaded up the bus and were on our way.  I sat by Spencer and some kid who had some version of a Pokemon encyclopedia, which means the entire 90 minute bus ride consisted of Pokemon.  We won't go much into detail on that because I'd rather forget it all.

The first thing we did at the museum was learn about Native Americans from a real Native American artist.  He was a professional stone sculptor, so of course we... painted cornucopias.  Yeah, I didn't get it either.  I mean, we didn't even get to see any of his work.  But whatever.  Here's Spencer's cornucopia:

And here's mine:

Both will be on display in the Madsen Museum of Thanksgiving Art Done at School exhibit in our basement for the next week or so.

Then we went on a guided tour of some of the museum.  Our tour guide was awesome for two reasons: 1) he really knew his stuff, and 2) he was from New Jersey and had the accent to prove it.  Talk about a disconnect with the surroundings.  However, I really liked him.  For one thing, you could tell he was really passionate about the museum and teaching the kids.  For another, you could tell he had picked up a bunch of kid "lingo" and he liked to use it.  (Like "OMG" and "Cool" and whatnot.)  He also told jokes that the kids didn't get but the adults did, which is always a winner in my book.

I'm not sure why, but Spencer insisted that I take a bunch of pictures.  And since I know how interesting pictures of a museum you've probably never been to before are, I'll make this brief.

Here's a 34 foot tall, 2600 pound totem pole.  It was pretty impressive.

Here's Spencer holding the vertebrae of a whale.  It was big.  Oh, and there's our guide.

Here are the kids beating a caribou drum.  Sorry the pictures are funny - no flash photography.

Learning about the arctic Native Americans.  There's Mrs. Wright in the background.  She was Spencer's Kindergarten teacher, but today she was just another mom.

Here's a wigwam.  It's semi-permanent and made of birch, so don't mistake it for a teepee, which is very portable and made of hides.

Spencer working on building a miniature teepee.

There's a teepee.  I kinda doubt they were made of canvas, but it looks nice.  A bit drafty, but nice.  (Makes me thankful for my bed and house and all I have!)

The museum had a "Jingle Rails" display.  Artists had made small replicas of different Native American sites around the country and then put electric trains with them.  It was all very well done and pretty interesting.  Here's Yellowstone lodge.

 

And here's Spencer in front of a teeny-tiny Old Faithful.

 

After a bite to eat and the obligatory trip to the gift shop, it was time to head home. I earned mother of the year points by letting Spencer play Angry Birds Star Wars on my phone while I dozed.