A Day at Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

Last Wednesday, January 22, the first and second grade classes from Cascade Elementary took a field trip to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls. That sounds exciting! However, knowing the attention span of kids that age, I wondered: What would attract their attention, regardless of the teachers' focus objectives for the trip? What important information did they take away from this excursion? What impressed them the most?

Although I was not able to go on the trip with them and observe for myself, I did the next best thing: I interviewed my granddaughter, Stella, who was among the first graders on the trip, and bribed her with some Cheetos so she wouldn't walk away. Being the extremely skilled reporter that I am, I had written out some questions for the interview to draw out her experience, but she couldn't remember much (runs in the family), so I just let her tell me whatever she liked about the day.

She said they had a movie theater and were shown a film about Native Americans. They had statues of Lewis and Clark with Sacagawea and her baby, along with a Black man and their dog. The dog's name was Seaman. They brought in another dog, Buddy, to show them what Seaman might have looked like. She saw a grizzly bear, a buffalo, some birds, and prairie dogs. They made a necklace with a bear claw and beads. She remembered being told that you should make noise when hiking so bears can hear you and go away. She said they got to go inside a teepee made of buffalo skin, with no doors. Oh, and finally, she explained that in the teepee, the moms are in charge! (Seems like little has changed.)