Industrial Revolution Chicago Trip Summary
Compass Montessori Junior High students explore the Griffin Science Museum in Chicago
In March and April, our workshop was on the Industrial Revolution. Our project was for each student to choose a topic about a company or an event that took place during the Industrial Revolution in Chicago. We had students pick topics from transportation, tragic events, companies, and tech inventions. Each student would write a short speech about their topic and present it at a location in Chicago that connected to their speech.
On April 12th, our class made its way down to the windy city of Chicago. We drove down in our school vans, and then we took our first train ride of the week from Kalamazoo to Chicago. Once we arrived after a train ride filled with math and snacks, we had our first presentation, the first of many. After that, our class visited the Chicago Harbor Locks, and then we finished a long travel day with an interesting home-cooked dinner of very barbecue sauced beef and other sides.
Day two was packed with insightful presentations and engaging locations. We visited various places with wonderful histories. One place we visited was Macy's, where Marshall Field's started, and The Palmer House, where we taste-tested the first-ever brownie recipe! For lunch and some recess time, we headed over to Grant Park, a famous park created by Montgomery Ward. One highlight of the trip for many was speaking to ATF members and even meeting a K9 named Darwin. We got to stand in an alley next to the Nederlander theater, where, in previous years, the Iroquois fire happened, and at a restaurant that features Frank Nitti's vault. Our last adventure on day two was a Chicago Ghosts, Gangsters, and Crime tour.
On Tuesday, we took a short but relaxing train ride to the Pullman National Park and heard a delightful speech about train cars. We even got the opportunity to hear from a Pullman's conservatory advocate. Then we got to visit the Griffin Science Museum, where we saw a Tesla coil in action! This museum was so eye-opening and taught us so much about science. We ended our day with a yummy dinner at Wow Bao!
To start our fourth day, our class traveled to Wrigley Field for a guided tour of the amazing stadium. We learned all about baseball's history and got to go on the field. We even got to stand in the home dugout! Just outside of Wrigley Field, the FIFA World Cup trophy was being displayed. Although we didn't get to see the trophy, we got some free Coke, and we took lots of fun photos. After this, we headed to Near North Montessori School and met the seventh- and eighth-grade students. We played many fun games and got to know so many new people. To end this super fun day, we dressed up and ate dinner at Al #1 Italian beef, then headed to a theatre performance called Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
Compass Montessori Junior High students give presentations during their Industrial Revolution Trip to Chicago
Our last full day in Chicago was filled with even more presentations, including one at Hull House, a major part of Chicago's history. We ended our engaging day at the Adler Planetarium, where we learned all about space crafts and how Star Trek is, unfortunately, not real. We headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo for a quick visit! After some time with the animals, we enjoyed a yummy lunch, then boarded our train to head back to Michigan.
Along with all these amazing presentations, the trip was filled with math, hacky sack, laughs, Chicago Morning News, and lots and lots of walking. This was an exciting and amazing trip to the big city, and we all made memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you to our wonderful teachers and the trip planners for making this trip possible.
