Last Tuesday, September 30th we went to the Statue of Liberty. First we went to take a train to go on the ferry but…… somebody stepped on my classmate’s shoe and it fell in the tracks!!!!!!!!! Then my mom asked the train driver to help. So the train driver got his flashlight and did some kind of “flashlight language” and it told the next train driver who was coming behind us to stop. So that he could get the shoe. It was pretty hectic but in the end the student got his shoe back. That was just the first 20 minutes of our trip, I have more crazy stories to tell you.

After the train, we went on a ferry to go to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. First, we went in the bottom of the Pedestal Museum where there were lots of cool facts and objects. We filled out some of our trip sheet, and took notes about some facts. For example, we saw a giant replica of the Statue of Liberty’s foot – it was extremely cool. Bartholdi, the original creator, initially planned the pedestal to be round then he saw it as a more traditional structure and then he had his final idea which is what we see now. We saw how plaster was put on the wooden lathe work which provided the general form and shape of the statue. Did you know that the Bartholdi modeled the head of the Statue of Liberty after his own mother? And did you know that the same guy who made the Eiffel Tower was a big help building the underlying structure of the Statue of Liberty? His name was Alexander-Gustave Eiffel.

After the Pedestal Museum, we walked up five BIG long flights of stairs to go almost to the top of the pedestal. That was a good workout. I felt really good. We were right under the Statue of Liberty’s torch. She’s beautiful. We filled another page of notes which was the first step for writing our Statue of Liberty poems. They turned out really nice. (They are hanging up in our classroom now.) And we enjoyed the view!!! It was scary but super fun. I loved it. Then we sketched Lady Liberty and tried on the ranger’s binoculars. The ranger said the binoculars were, “to look at girls.” But I knew that that wasn’t true so I said, “No, what do you really use them for ???” So then he gave me a serious answer and it was, “To scope out bad guys.” I saw a helicopter, it looked like it was right in front of me and I could touch it, but I couldn’t. The binoculars were big and very good for looking at distant things.

Finally our trip came to an end and we celebrated Sophia’s birthday with Lady Liberty cookies and star cookies on the ferry ride home. Thank you Sophia ; ). And thank you to all the parents who came!! I hope we can go again. And I hope this encourages you to go there.

-Estelle