On Friday, May 6th, Ms. Falcinelli, Mrs.Poll, Mrs. Smith, and Mrs. Underwood’s Cedar View Elementary classrooms went to Lansing for their 4th grade field trip to see our state Capitol building and the Michigan Historical Museum. This special trip is a culminating activity after studying Michigan history, geography, economics, and our state and federal government throughout third and fourth grades. The students are always excited to see our wonderful Capitol building and see where our laws are made.  One activity they really enjoy is lying down on the glass floor in the rotunda and looking up at the beautiful capitol dome. The Michigan Historical Museum brings Michigan’s history right before the students’ eyes.
The students who attended Lansing on Friday happened to be there on a day of a historical event. It was the day of the unveiling of former Governor Granholm’s portrait.  Some of the classes were able to see Governor Granholm there in the Capitol building.  Mrs. Poll’s class had the honor of having a representative from the capitol explain to them some of the symbolism included in the governor’s portrait. In the portrait the governor is looking past a vase of apple blossoms and out a sunlit window. Some of the symbols in the portrait include: a small wind turbine to show her work toward green energy, a Chevy Volt to show her work support of extending the range of the electric car, a mortarboard to show that she wants to increase the number of college graduates in Michigan, and a shovel that was used to break the ground for an advanced auto battery plant in Holland, Michigan.
On Wednesday, May 11th, a second batch of fourth graders headed to Lansing. This time, students from Ms. Zank, Mrs. Baas, Mrs. Nielsen, Mr. Moleski, and Mr. Gregory visited the Michigan Historical Museum and state Capitol. Since congress rarely convenes on a Friday, it was the Wednesday group that had the opportunity of a fourth grade lifetime. Several of our groups from Cedar View were honored in the House of Representatives by our very own representative Pete MacGregor. These groups were able to see the representatives at work and listen in on how they voted on a bill.
All of the students had an awesome time viewing the history of Michigan at the Michigan Historical Museum, but the main attraction was seeing how our government actually works.  The fourth grade teachers spent many hours preparing their students for this trip. No question from the tour guides went unanswered by our marvelous fourth graders. The lead tour guide at the capitol told me that Cedar View Elementary is one of the finest and largest groups to enter the Capitol and leave as the best behaved.  Congratulations to all of the fourth grade students of Cedar View for representing our community and demonstrating the Habits of Mind.