X's Field Trip

The time finally came for me to chaperone Xander's field trip to the Baltimore Museum of Industry. I was dreading it with every fiber of my being. But guess what? This ended up being the best field trip ever! The kids were so great, though admittedly the bus ride was a touch on the loud side, but what I had been warned was a very boring museum turned out to be quite interesting.

Xander's group started out in a room where they learned all about engineers and even had the opportunity to put their calculating skills to the test.
Preparing to be an engineer...Xander was pretty excited. Not sure about his classmate.

Each group of four was given the same materials to design and construct a roller coaster that would enable three marbles, of different sizes, to fall into a can placed at least 6 inches away. The first roller coaster was extremely basic in design though it still took the kids several minutes to get it to work properly. When they were ready, they called the instructor over to show him their results and received their next instructions.

The second roller coaster had to have a loop in it which definitely presented the kids with more challenges. Eventually they were successful!

The third roller coaster was really tough and the kids were still working on it when time ran out. I think if they had had 5 more minutes they would have worked out the kinks.

The beautiful Inner Harbor, much more clean now then it was 100 years ago; at least, that's what they told us. After our guide described what it looked like, and smelled like, in the late 19th/early 20th century, I'm glad we get to see it now rather than back then.

After lunch the kids stepped back in time for the afternoon as they took on the roles of people who had once worked in the oyster canning factory that was located where the museum now stands. I thought Xander was going to have a complete meltdown when he received his worker card and it was of a woman. Heaven forbid!! And it didn't matter that other boys had female cards as well; Xander was highly embarrassed! His job as this female was a labeler which he seemed to enjoy doing. Check out how he shoved the apron behind him.

He was extremely relieved when his next card was that of a man who had worked as a printer. This was a job that was more fun and, even better, earned Xander higher wages.

Receiving his tokens, just like those long ago employees. The man who had owned the factory had hired mostly immigrants who he then paid in tokens that could be used in a store right there at the factory. All their food, clothing, rent for the apartments they lived in (also owned by the factory owner), medicine, etc. could be paid for with these tokens. The kids were so excited when they learned that the tokens they received for their work that afternoon could be used to buy things at the store. Visions of candy or small toys filled their heads, I'm sure.

They quickly sobered up as they received a hard lesson about wants versus needs. There were never enough tokens left over for anything extra; needs such as food and clothing quickly ate up all their tokens earned.

I'm so grateful that I got a chance to spend such a fun and informative day with Xander and his friends.