School Year 2019-2020: PDC's First Field Trip
On September 13, 2019, PDC embarked upon quite the experiential adventure into downtown Houston. We parked in the Phoenicia Market & Cafe garage. One of our teachers had a discussion with students about the realities of parking in downtown areas of cities. These realities include the difficulties of finding parking, the costs associated with parking in downtown, and the moral dilemma attached to parking in a "for customers only" lot. After this conversation, they took the elevators down to the market and cafe to meet up with our other group. Before they ventured into the market to peruse the scrumptious array of decadent foods, desserts, and drinks we stopped by the cafe stage to pose for silly pictures. FUN! After everyone walked around the market, thoroughly impressed by food items from countries we have not yet learned about, we sat down to eat.
After filling our stomachs, we pondered two questions. Should we go to Discovery Green park and run the risk of overheating, unnecessarily, OR should we go on over to The Shops @Houston Center and browse through the shops. Our younger students really wanted to go to the playground, so we all decided to play and relax in the park. [Check us out walking over to Discovery Green]. After we walked over to Discovery Green, we stopped near the water spouts for a bit before continuing onto the playground. On the way to the playground, we all took a moment to recognize the clouds in all their glory as they shaded us from the powerful rays of the Earth's sun. We saw people walking their dogs, young moms with young children, and corporate workers eating their lunch. PDC staff & students settled in and slowed down from the hustle & bustle of the school week. #BreatheInBreatheOut
After this relaxing jaunt in the park, we headed over to The Shops @Houston Center. which is a mall. Road construction required us to go down a block before we could cross the street. Once we entered the building, we jumped onto an elevator and pressed "M" for the mall. We thought something was awry when we continued to stop on floor "4" even though we kept pushing "M". We didn't know what was going on so we all stayed on the elevator which continued to rise up and down retrieving and discarding people. We finally stepped off onto the ground floor. We then walked across to another set of elevators and pushed "M". To our surprise, we again ended up at floor "4". Well, needless to say, we were all a little beside ourselves and took this as an "opportunity" to ask someone where the mall was. This person told us the mall was on floor "4". So, we learned that the elevator buttons and the floor number may not always line up. #RealWorldExperience #PayAttention
We walked off of the elevators laughing at ourselves!
We began our trek through the stores in the mall. After a bit, we sat in the food court area for 30 minutes and talked. Then we, again, walked the mall heading toward the sky bridge. Sadly, the sky bridge entrance was closed. The students were really looking forward to going across the sky bridge. A teacher said, "Let's go find out why it is closed". Everyone walked up to a super nice security guard and we asked him why the sky bridge was closed. He said, "Because it is going to be torn down". A teacher asked, "Is there another sky bridge nearby"? He said, "Yes" and told us how to get there. Some of the students wanted to check out one more store, so we decided to do that instead of walking over to the other sky bridge. We will check that bridge out next time.
After all this walking, we were all ready to head back to Paradigm Development Center. So we did!
Past Downtown Experiences
~~~ In previous years, our students were taught lessons about the Metro rail and they rode the Metro rail from the Northline Metro Transit Center to various stops in downtown Houston. One of these stops included our field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts to enjoy Vincent Van Gogh's special exhibit. Our students have walked through & ate lunch in the Houston downtown tunnel system, many times. Our students have observed transient people and learned about some of the different reasons they may be without shelter and money. And our students have walked up Main street, through different shops, checked out different murals, and learned how to cross the street near Metro rail crossings. Last year, at the Houston Hobby Center, the students enjoyed a wonderful visual and music performance. And after one of our lunch adventures in the downtown tunnels, we all walked over to the police museum, then relaxed next to one of the many downtown water fountains. Downtown Houston has been a great place for our students to learn about one-way streets, public transportation, sky bridges, reasons for the lack of public restrooms, and how to use parking meters. They have also practiced ordering and paying for their lunches.~~~
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