Lincoln Logs Blog

During spring break, eighteen 8th graders and two 10th graders will be taking a road trip with STAMPS to the Land of Lincoln! You can follow our adventures on our Lincoln Logs website which will be updated daily! Our adventure starts Saturday, March 21 and concludes on Saturday, March 28! Travel along with us to learn about Lincoln and celebrate his bicentennial!

http://stampslincoln.blogspot.com/

A Road Trip to Hampton NHS

By: Francesca
aka Fran Fran Fierce

Today the Stuart-Hobson Middle School Stamps group took a trip to Hampton. My favorite part was presenting and then answering questions from the audience and then meeting all the people, and my least favorite part was nothing. We also took a tour of the Hampton National Historic Site and learn about the facts of the building and learn how long the building was there and what it was used for, but my overall view of the trip was amazing I had so much fun that I cant stop talking about it.


by Daley

Hi it’s Daley, and I want to share with you, our devoted blog readers, the time we spent on Wednesday. At 9 o’clock we left Stuart Hobson, and got back to school around 5 – 5:30. We started out our day at the slave quarters and land owners home. We gave our presentation and were asked questions by all the other park service people. The park rangers told us about the park the represented, and why we should go and visit it. Then we went to the mansion on top of the hill and had an all around tour. 15 kids went in for the first tour while the other 6 or seven of us started with the gardens. Ok, ok so it was just a big grass lawn, but the was a 33 foot deep well that they used to fill with ice from the ponds. While we were getting our 2 stamps I met a spider and named him Hammy – short for Hampton. =)!!!! On the inside we learned about the evolution of toilets and other more important information about the house. All in all it was a great day and the perfect excuse to spend more time with our fabulous park service friends Mrs. Jen and Mrs. Bethany especially.

Ta – Ta – For – Now



By Liz and Kelsea

The Hampton trip was great. We met lots of park rangers who wanted us to do STAMPS at their parks. We would love to… but you gotta pay! ☺ (just joking) it was so fun, and we had a great experience.

Liz and Kelsea are two fabulous eighth grade STAMPers who love iPhoto.

A Visit to Lincoln's Cottage

On Saturday, February 28, eight STAMPS participants met Ms. Jen, Ms. Bethany and Ms. Trenkle at the Lincoln Cottage for a tour of the recently opened house and the "Debating Emancipation" program. For the "Debating Emancipation" program, students traveled back in time to 1862 and took on the role of Lincoln's Cabinet (aka the Team of Rivals). Students were tasked with advising Lincoln about Emancipation.. Some of the cabinet members portrayed included: Montgomery Blair, Salmon Chase, Edwin Stanton, William Seward, and Edward Bates.

Once the program was over, students explored the museum gallery and then went outside for a group photo in front of the Lincoln statue. The statue of Lincoln is in his likeness--it is exactly the same height as the president himself was, even down to the measurements of his top hat! He is posed with his horse, Old Buck.

This experience was in preparation for our Lincoln spring break trip (leaving three weeks from today!).

Welcome back Francesca! We missed you!

STAMPS Presents at SHMS' Black History Program

On Thursday, February 26, STAMPS members presented at the school's annual Black History program. STAMPS students shared about National Park Service sites in the United States that commemorate 20th century African-American heroes and sheroes. NPS sites discussed included: MLK NHS in Atlanta, Mary McLeod Bethune NHS in DC, LBJ NHS in Texas, Carter G. Woodson's House in DC, President's Park, and more! Each participant read about their particular slide.

Celebrating Dr. King with STAMPS

by Porschia

Creating a power point was very interesting and fun to do. On my power point, I had to do a slide on Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Other students a part of STAMPS did different topics, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Dr. King (of course), the Selma to Montgomery March, and President's Park. The reason for the power point activity was to present the slideshow, full of wonderful facts, to two hundred students from three elementary schools, at the Department of the Interior in honor of Dr. King's 80th birthday. The presentation took place on Friday, January 16, 2009.

I really enjoy being in STAMPS. I say that because this is the only activity I do at school and I enjoy going to the monuments and learning some nice wonderful facts. I thank Ms. Jen for letting our school have an opportunity to participate in this program.














by Dyani

I am a member of STAMPS. Our last trip was to the Department of the Interior. We went there to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. and tell people what STAMPS is. We did great! Thanks to Ms. Jen and Ms. Trenkle. We caught the metro there and although it was so cold, I am glad I went. So come on down and join STAMPS--we are on a mission to learn!


by James

The STAMPS MLK program was very educational. STAMPS visited the Department of the Interior to do a slideshow on MLK. Devin and I worked on how you can be involved in the National Park Service (NPS). I had a lot of fun and I learned plenty of information about MLK. At the Department of the Interior STAMPS and I heard the MLK "I Have A Dream" speech. We were the senoirs of the schools that attended. We heard Brookland Elementary sing the National Anthem. Lastly, we went to lunch at Cosi's and it was my first time. The food was very good and healthy.

STAMPS at the Lincoln Memorial

by Kelsea

On Saturday, December 6 members of STAMPS met Ms. Trenkle at the Foggy Bottom Metro. Our destination was the Lincoln Memorial. We met "our" park ranger Ms. Jen as soon as we got there. Ms. Jen had many activities planned, one of which was a scavenger hunt. This scavenger hunt taught us a lot. For example, I bet you didn't know that the Lincoln statue is sitting on top of the American flag! The memorial is made of materials from many states, to symbolize the coming together of America. There also are 36 pillars suppoting the memorial for the same reason, one for each of the states in the Union when Lincoln was President. After the scavenger hunt we discussed our answers and planned future meetings. We then said "goodbye" to Ms. Jen. Little did we know Ms. Trenkle had a surprise for us. STARBUCKS! It was then tiem for our parents to come and for our STAMPS trip to be over.

Kelsea is an active member of STAMPS. She really enjoys the rpogram. History is one of her favorite subjects.

C&O Canal Boat Ride with STAMPS

by Alexandria

The C&O canal trip was exciting. We began the trip by taking the subway to Georgetown. It was a long walk but when we arrived at the C&O canal we knew that it had been worth it. We had to wait for a little bit but we spent that time by going into the ranger station which is where we got our stamp. It was my first and many other people's 2nd. The station was filled with little toys from the days before I was born. Surprisingly they were fun to play with. After everyone received their stamp, as if they had been watching us, the lock keepers (people operating the canal) arrived right on time. The boat went very slowly but we still learned a lot of information from the ranger who kept us entertained with jokes and stories. We felt like we were actually from that time period.

We learned about mules. They are hard workers that are the result of a male donkey and a female horse. If it was vice versa a hinny would be a result and they are lazy! We got to pet the mules and found out how smart they are. For example if a mule sees a puddle of water it will walk around it pushing its leader into the wall because it is clueless about how deep it is. Overall the trip was fun.

I was born in Pennsylvania and now live in DC. I love it here just like I love PA, but I will forever be an Eagles fan! I'm their ride or die fan! (I'm in the blue jacket to the right).