An Adventure in Chattanooga
The major expedition for Mountain Discovery Charter School’s 5th grade this year was to go to Chattanooga, TN for three days, accompanied by teacher Janet Smith, John Mordhorst, and several parents. They explored the geology of Cloudland Canyon State Park and delved into US history of the Civil War. They visited the National Cemetery and Chickamauga Battlefields. It was a wonderful opportunity to combine a fantastic field trip with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The following three-part series was written collectively by the 5th grade students which appeared in the Smoky Mountain Times, Bryson City's weekly newspaper.
Day One:
It was a three hour car ride from MDCS to Chattanooga, TN. On the way the 5th grade class stopped to eat their lunches on the side of the road. “We were like hobos!” said Amelia. When we finally got there, we realized we were at the Children’s Discovery Museum. “Everyone was so hyper I felt like I was in a room full of monkeys,” says Mackenzie. Inside, we first went to the museum’s “Rooftop Fun Factory,” a giant playground which even had a huge checkers board! In another part of the museum we could put on goggles which made us blind. We could use canes and get into wheel chairs and shoot basketballs. We felt what people with disabilities feel. From the museum’s lookout tower we saw an amazing view of Chattanooga.
After a fun afternoon at the museum, we drove to the Cloudland State Park and found our lodge. We unpacked everything we brought and played “capture the flag.” Then we had an amazing spaghetti dinner together before we had ‘smores over the campfire. We were so excited to be there.
Day Two:
Our fifth grade class started the day with breakfast at our lodge in Cloudland Canyon State Park. We wrote in our journals before traveling to the Chattanooga National Cemetery to walk through the Civil War section. “It made us realize that wars are serious and not something to joke about. It’s more fun to play the war games than in real life.” said Tyler A. Many students agreed with Tyler’s thoughts. From there we went to the Chickamauga Visitor Center and Battlefield. There we saw a movie clip mainly about battle at Chickamauga in 1863 and other battles of the Civil War. We also received a tour of the battlefield from Ranger Anton along the road. There were many different Civil War cannons. “The cannon ball evolved over time. The simple ball changed to exploding shells.” said Davis, whose class project was about cannons. We returned to Cloudland Canyon State Park for a hike with Ranger Josh. He took us to the Canyon, and started with a view of the whole canyon from the overlook. He then took us to a waterfall, stopping by a cave used by ancient people. We went down hundreds of steps! When we were done with the hike we went back to the nature center and cracked open fossils. Overall it was an awesome and exciting day.
Day Three:
On the morning of day three it was damp and raining, colder than any other day. We had to pack up everything we brought and leave our lodge at Cloudland Canyon State Park. Our first destination was Point Park on Lookout Mountain where a battle occurred on November 24, 18xx. The Union had the advantage because they were on top of the mountain. “While the Confederates were climbing up the hill the Union soldiers were shooting down on them,” said Tyler W. MDCS fifth graders, Tyler W and Jake created a 2’ x 3’ model of the mountain battle. We were planning to hike to the Craven’s House, but because of the hard, fast rain, we drove instead. “When we arrived at the Craven’s House, the door was locked so we decided to look through the key holes,” said Cameron. We saw old fashioned furnishings and an old kitchen. There was even a dungeon-like room on the lowest floor that looked like it could have been a meat room. After touring the Craven’s house it was time for the road trip back to Mountain Discovery Charter School. After being gone for three days we were ready to be back. What an awesome adventure!