Tale of our New York Trip
by Corinne I.
One month away and the 7th grade was already head over heels. We were getting closer and closer to March 7, 2007. Everyone had been talking and gossiping about the trip even during the summer of 2006. We reached our destination, and it was everything we dreamed. We went to New York City for a fabulous field trip to the American Museum of Natural History! However, we had to work hard for this trip. We went through fundraising and a lot of learning about the Museum. The American Museum of Natural History had some words and “maps” that were down right confusing. We’d worked really hard for the trip. In the end, the work really did pay off!
Studying for the trip was not easy. We had to work on finding out what a cladogram is and how to use it. We understand now that a cladogram is a “map” that shows how living things have evolved through time and the groups that have formed when organisms develop new traits that they share with others. Also, we had to learn the different parts of a cladogram. For instance, we learned clades are the group of organisms related by common descent. In addition, nodes are the part of a cladogram where two branches split up, and each node represents a common ancestor. Furthermore, a common ancestor is the direct relative that two animals evolved from. We were learning and reading all about cladograms so we could comprehend the huge cladogram on the floor at the museum. However, not only did we want to understand the cladograms for the museum, but Mr. G was planning on making a mural of a cladogram of vertebrates on our ceiling for future reference.
Not only did we work hard on studying, but also we worked a lot on raising money. Each 7th grade student was to take home a Little Caesars packet. Each packet advertised pizza, pies, cookies, and bread sticks. MMMM! Our goal was to raise about $5,000. To reach that goal every individual was asked to hand out at least ten. However, some students ended up going past the limit and raising more money than they had to. A big thanks goes to Josh, Cael, and Lyman for going above expectations. In all we raised over $3,000!
At the museum we had about 6 packets to work on. The six packets sounded like too much at first, however we still ended up having a lot of cheerfulness. We saw weird creatures that were scary, weird, and funny looking! There was even a giant ground mole that was around 15 ft. tall! Our most important packet though was the yellow packet. We had to note what we learned about our animals for the cladogram mural. The first sheet we did was green. We all had different jobs. There was one navigator, an investigator, a sketch artist, and an analyst. Some of the rooms were very detailed. One of the favorite rooms was the ocean life hall. Inside, hung a humongous whale. All around were dioramas of sea animals like seals and dolphins. On the roof was a beautiful illusion of water. The room was dark and quite leaving a peaceful sensation. Another favorite was the planetarium show. During the planetarium show you were expected to look at the dome shaped ceiling. It was so dark that you couldn’t even tell it was a ceiling. The ceiling turned into outer space with fantastic graphics, realistic sounds, and vibrating seats! It was a memory never to forget!
Outside the museum was even better. Personally I enjoyed the freedom we had outside the museum. The first night was an awesome hangout night! Students were so psyched they were bouncing off the walls, or beds! Many people were so hyper they couldn’t sleep, but other people were so tired because of all the work that they just had to sleep. The first day everyone was really tired from lack of sleep or they just wanted more sleep. After, the second day at the museum, we were dropped off near Times Square close to the Stomp theatre. We had a choice of eating wherever we wanted down there. After eating dinner, many people went for dessert at the Café Blu. Finally, we had arrived at Stomp. We had to wait a pretty long time for the show to start. They were much more interesting than anyone expected. Stomp used everything as an instrument, from sinks to lighters! The only down side of stomp was how late it was. Almost everyone was drowsy, even with the deafening banging. The next day everyone acted even more tired. Some people even slept an extra 30 minutes or an extra 45 minutes. That last day everyone was depressed because we were leaving, however we will have many intriguing, funny, or entertaining moments that they will remember for years to come!
Lately, the team has continuously made progress towards completing the cladogram on Mr. G’s ceiling. We used the information from the American Museum of Natural History to help the Grymonpré/Harrigan team create the ceiling cladogram. With that in mind, the museum assisted us in our task by allowing us to look at more realistic pictures of our animals for our stencils. Also, the information was developed into the essays you will find in this booklet. The museum also taught seventh grade students about reading and making cladograms. The journey to New York was very successful because each student learned as much detail as they would need to accomplish the task of our cladogram.
Last updated April 6, 2007.