A Visit to the State Capitol

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An annual tradition in my district is taking the 8th grade students to Springfield, IL (the state capitol).  This is my first year teaching exclusively 8th grade, so I got to go along.  We had to be at school at 5:30AM and got back to school at 9:00PM!  Those kiddos had an endless supply of candy to eat and energy to burn!  It was a long day, but fun.  We even got a tour of the state treasure's vault.

The kids seemed to really like the trip-- although they said their favorite parts were the 3 hour bus ride and dinner at The Golden Corral.  I guess if I was 13, those might be my favorites too. :)

When we were in the capitol building I took a picture of the inside of the dome.  I'm wondering if I can revisit this picture during a math lesson.  We have a unit coming up about transformations (rotations, reflections, translations).  I wonder if it could fit in somehow.  Suggestions?




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