Oh, the Wonderful Places We've Been,
the Terrific Things We've Seen!
Thanks in part to funding by the HSA, Murch classes can take advantage of our proximity to neighborhood and national treasures to enrich our curriculum through field trips and assemblies.
Classes frequently trek over to Politics & Prose two blocks away to meet in person the authors they’re studying. We've taken field trips to see the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, the National Zoo, the Smithsonian's many amazing museums on the National Mall, historic sites such as Gettysburg, and working farms to support specific learning units. In addition, music teacher Ann Smith works with the Washington Performing Arts Society to provide opportunities to see fabulous performances. And at school we've hosted events with children's authors, “backyard” nature tours, traveling planetariums, dance troupes, and puppeteers.
Strawberry Fields Forever
 Over the course of the year, pre-k students have studied farms, categorized food, and investigated the life cycles and parts of plants. On April 3, the three pre-kindergarten classes took a trip out to Homestead Farm to see all of our ideas come to life. We began with a tour of farm animals. We had a chance to feed goats and see a variety of hens. Then we took a hayride around orchards and fields until we came to the strawberry patch. Students filled baskets with the most delicious strawberries around. We celebrated our hard work with popsicles!
--Sarah Bogan, pre-k teacher
Flamingos, Cheetahs, Leopards, and Knuffle Bunny
 The first grade classes had two exciting trips in May. First, thanks to the HSA field-trip fund, they went to the Kennedy Center to see Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical by Mo Willems. The students loved comparing the musical to the book and thought the songs added a lot to the story. They were especially excited when the pigeon made an appearance and the scene where Trixie's dad goes through all of the clothes in the washing machine.
To wrap up their science unit on animals and plants, the first graders also made a pilgrimage to the National Zoo. Some of their favorite animals were the leopards, flamingos, and cheetahs. A few students also saw the octopus feeding, which they thought was really cool. Of course, everyone enjoyed having a picnic lunch and getting ice cream before heading back to Murch on the Metro bus.
--Kathleen Bergin, 1st grade teacher
Fake Teeth and Turkeys But Real Sheep Shearing at Mt. Vernon
May 28 was a special day for the fourth grade because we got to go on a field trip to Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of President George Washington. First, we went to their mansion, which was smaller than Murch. Once we were inside, the first room we went to was the formal dining room where guests were entertained. George and Martha Washington had at least two guests per day - averaging 700 overnight guests per year. The next rooms our group visited were a lot of bedrooms and a stairway. Upstairs, we saw some more bedrooms, a pantry, and a kitchen. The beds were really big and puffy -- I’d say a bit too fluffy to sleep in. There was a fake turkey hanging on the wall and some fake pigs in the pantry. The kitchen had a really big fireplace and a wood-burning stove.
>> Read the full story by Holden Scharpf
Bickart Class Rocks Out
 On May 13 our kindergarten class went down to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to see the permanent National Gems and Mineral Collection. This was our grand finale to our long study of rocks. The children were divided up into groups with chaperones and each group was given a question that they had to answer by the end of their journey through the exhibit. They documented their answers by writing and drawing on paper given to them when we arrived.
The children loved taking what they had learned and applying it to what they saw. For instance, seeing the different volcanoes around the world erupt, seeing what kind of rock (limestone) is used to build many famous landmarks in DC--including the Washington Monument--and naming types of rocks as either metamorphic, igneous, or sedimentary.
They were also blown away by the sight of the gems and minerals. The children couldn't do anything but run from gem to gem saying, “Whoa look it this!” and “Ooooooh, did you see this one?, This is my favorite!” and “Oooooh, I want that one!”
At the end of the exhibit is the famous Hope Diamond. We took a picture of it to give to Principal Ellis. She had asked us to get the actual diamond for her but a picture was the best we could do!
-- Sarah Bickart, kindergarten teacher
Busting Loose with Dr. Seuss
 
Who was the real Dr. Seuss? That’s what students in Ms. Bogan’s and Ms. Wieranga’s pre-K classes learned about when they went to the Levine School of Music on May 5 to see “A Story That No One Can Beat!”
Written and directed by Lisa Shaw and performed by the Levine Community Singers, Voices of Levine, and Behind the Musical (Kids Music Theatre), the musical traced the life of the famous children’s author, including how he came up with the idea for To Think I Saw it On Mulberry Street during a trans-Atlantic crossing. The clanks and rumbles of the ship were driving him to distraction until his bride, Helen, suggested he use those rhythms for inspiration. He did and the rest is history.
The ensemble performed a range of musical numbers including standards by Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and Harold Arlen and selections from “Seussical the Musical” and “School House Rock!” And who was the soprano who played Dr. Seuss’s pretty wife? Why, it was Murch mom Donna Scharpf!
-- Laura Kaiser
Pound, Stomp, Kick!
Step Afrika, which performed at Murch on May 4, is a group of women and men who step to make music, otherwise known as body percussion. First they wanted to have a challenge, so they went head to head on the stage. One person lost every time so they stepped together and got a mighty applause.
  
Fifth grader Perri Hollar, said, “I thought it was very cool how they did the stepping with their bodies.”
Jack Poulos, first grade, said, “It was fun that they got us to sing and to move with them and we got to sing to the Kindergarteners.”
They invited us to do stepping with them but first they wanted to introduce us to three new words: Teamwork, Discipline, and Courage. They had us do the pledge of Step Afrika and taught us a step dance from starting position through the end. It was really nice how they got everyone involved and had kept a smile on everyone's face. -- Sophia Poulos, 5th grade
Going to Galapagos
On May 3 the third, fourth, and fifth grades all went to see Galapagos 3D. It was at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. It was about how a scientist tries to find out how animals evolved there.
 My teacher, Ms. George, said, "I won a raffle for a free IMAX showing at the Smithsonian, and Ms. Ellis, our principal, and I decided it would be a great reward for our third, fourth and fifth grades after DC-CAS testing."
We had a great time! Murch students had the whole theater to themselves. One of our class's favorite parts was when the scientists went down under water. There are many different types of animals that live on the land and in the water. My favorites were the sharks, the fish, the lizards, the turtles, and the eels. Because the movie was in 3D, the animals seemed real and it felt like you could touch them.
Alex, another third grader, said that his favorite part was when the submarine sucked up a fish in a tube. They did this to look at it in a lab on the boat back up on the surface. Third-grader Zach said his favorite part was when an eel stuck its tongue out at us.
-- John Keating, 3rd grade
The Big Splash
   
On April 28 the second grade poured into three school buses and headed to the National Aquarium in Baltimore with their teachers, aides, and parent chaperones.
Upon arrival, the students rushed straight to the shark tank and tried to name each species. They watched divers feed little fish to stingrays and lettuce to a one-finned gigantic sea turtle.
The highlight of the day was the dolphin show. Students from Ms. Stephens, Ms. Mahar, and Ms. Schafer's classes made a beeline for the first three rows, otherwise known as the “Splash Zone.” They were enthralled as six dolphins mimicked their trainer by shaking their heads up and down and left and right; clapping their fins on the water - creating a big splash -- and jumping up in the air to touch a hanging ball with their nose.
We learned a lot of fascinating facts. Did you know that humans use 15 to 20 percent of their lung capacity while dolphins use 90 percent? That’s why the mammals can stay underwater for a long time and we can’t. Dolphins can swim 25 m.p.h. and have 88 sharp teeth that allow them to eat a whole fish at one time. And, recently, scientists at the aquarium discovered that dolphins can recognize themselves in the mirror, just like we do.
Next, students entered a theatre and donned 3D glasses to watch a movie about the North and South poles. To their surprise, the movie was actually in 4D -- when a shark on the screen jumped out of the ocean, the audience got sprayed with water! And when bats appeared onscreen, the students felt a creepy fluttering sensation under their seats.
With a half hour to spare, the students checked out the Australian Exhibit filled with birds, snakes and lizards before boarding the buses to return to Murch.
-- Robin Schepper
Third Graders “Tourmobile” the Mall
The third grade classes went on a Tourmobile to explore some of the DC monuments on Feb. 24. First, we were picked up by a school bus at Murch. The bus dropped us off at the Tourmobile stop on the National Mall. We took a guided tour and then we got to go inside the Jefferson Memorial, which is located at the Tidal Basin. We saw a statue of Thomas Jefferson standing on a pedestal. He looked enormous! We took a bathroom break after that. Who knew the Jefferson Memorial had a bathroom in it!
Next stop was the Lincoln Memorial, where we had lunch. We all had the same food: an apple, a hotdog, potato chips, and a bottle of water. Then we went in the Tourmobile a little more. Our last stop was to see the FDR Memorial. All of the teachers said many times that we were not allowed to play on the statues. We obeyed. We went back into the Tourmobile and were dropped off at the Van Ness Metro station. That was really fun. We got off and walked back to Murch. It was a great day and a great tour!
-- Sophie McInerney, 3rd grade
Hunting for Gargoyles
Mr. Welsh’s class traveled to the National Cathedral on February 25. It was very cold and windy but the children were in high spirits and enjoyed the experience. They marveled at the height of the nave, the many columns and arches, the stained glass windows, and the secret doors. They found gargoyles and statues, tombs and a presidential sarcophagus, and learned about the organ with 10,000 pipes.
-- Erna Marcus, Kindergarten aide
Clara Barton Museum with Ms. Stephens' Class
The Fifth Grade Visits Gettysburg
by Adelaide Kaiser, 3rd grade
by Mitchell Chin, 1st grade
by Ana S. Kiknadze, 4th grade
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