Program Description:

Mission Statement:

The Discover America program has been designed to enhance the educational experiences of urban students by creating opportunities for experiential learning and by opening students’ eyes to the vast, wonderful, human and physical diversity of the American nation.  Discover America activities are designed to meet specific curricula objectives and relate directly to material covered in the classroom. The objectives of the Discover America Program are met through frequent fieldtrips in the local area, extensive class trips at the end of the school year, and frequent presentations by experts in a wide variety of fields. 

Program:

The four year program is designed to expose students to four regions of the country each with a unique geographical and historical composition.  Each trip is tied in with the Social Studies, Science, Math, and Language Arts curriculum covered during the year.

5th Grade Year: The Lewis and Clark Expedition (St. Louis to the Black Hills)

• Thomas Jefferson and the Early Republic
• Expansion Westward / Exploration
• The Native American Experience
• Geography and History of the Great Plains
• Novel:  The Captain’s Dog

6th Grade Year: Arizona and the Southwest

• The Nation Continues to Expand / War with Mexico
• Apache Tribes (East Fork Indian Reservation)
• Water:  Conservation and Erosion  (Hoover Dam; Grand Canyon)
• Cowboys and Dude Ranches
• Geographic Regions:  Deserts and Mountains
• Aviation:  History, Science, Economy, and Career
• Novel:  Sing Down the Moon

7th Grade Year: The Nation’s Capital (Washington D.C.; Gettysburg)

• Founding of a Nation
• Federal Archives
• United States Government / Three Branches
• National Monuments and Memorials
• National Air and Space Museum
• The Civil War (Gettysburg)
• Novel:  TB

8th Grade Year: The Civil Rights Movement (Southern United States)

• In-depth study of the leadership of Dr. King
• Birthplace in Atlanta, Georgia
• Place of death, Memphis, Tennessee
• Victories: Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham, Alabama
• National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, Tennessee)
• Tuskegee Airmen Fly-In (3 day course at Tuskegee Institute)
• St. Augustine: oldest city in the United States
• Novel:  To Kill a Mockingbird

Requirements to Participate:

All students are required to participate on class trips.  Parents, relatives, and friends are intentionally not allowed to participate on the class trips.  Students are chaperoned by their classroom teachers, a principal, and one or two volunteers.  Students may be excluded from the trips if they are deemed a risk to themselves, their classmates, or the chaperones.  They may also be excluded if it is determined that their behavior is likely to either be an embarrassment to their classmates or to negatively impact the learning environment of other participants.  Students who do not participate on the trip are required to attend school and cover the same curriculum objectives in the classroom.