A Riverboat Tour of the Southeast

During our tour of the Southeast, we traveled by fishing boat, by bus, and, most often, by riverboat. Check out the exciting adventures we had during our trip.


Our first stop in the northeast was the Florida Everglades. As a souvenir, students received a brochure from The Everglades National Park. Students wore sailor during their ride aboard a fishing boat.

We were very excited when we arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral , Florida. While we were at the space station, we visited the NASA website for kids to gain more information about the space program, to play interactive space games, and to read stories written by other students.


One of our favorite tour stops in the Southeast was Orlando, Florida. We visited Disney World, and students brought their favorite Disney souvenirs to school. Click here to visit the Magic Kingdom Website.

Our third stop was Jamestown, Virginia, the site of the first permanent English settlement in America. To better understand how tough it was for the first English settlers to survive during their first year, students played an interactive online game called The Online Jamestown Adventure.

In Appalachia, students boarded a bus to tour the Appalachian Mountains. They learned that this mountainous region covers most of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states. Students also learned about the importance of mining and the danger involved in digging tunnels in order to find the coal.
In Memphis, Tennessee, students boarded the Natchez Riverboat for an exciting trip through Memphis. It was here that students were introduced to "The Blues," a type of music first made popular by African Americans serving as slaves in the Tennessee cotton plantations.

			New Orleans, Louisiana was one of the most exciting stop on our regional tour. In New Orleans, we feasted on chicken gumbo and King Cake in the French Quarter and read about the history of Mardi Gras while visiting Bourbon Street. We had our own Mardi Gras celebration in class with food and, of course, beads. We also spent time discussing Hurricane Katrina and looking at pictures of how New Orleans has changed since September 2006. Our school raised over $1,000 for families who lost their homes in the storm. READ MORE ABOUT OUR MARDI GRAS CELEBRATION!

While in New Orleans, students studies four different types of music styles. They listened to all four types of music and tried to guess the style. They had cards that gave a description of each music style. After listening to a piece of music, students held up the card with the name of the music they thought they had heard. The four styles of included: Dixieland Jazz, Delta Blues, Bluegrass Music, and Cajun Music.

We got back on the boat and cruised out to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico to learn how oil workers drill down under the sea to find oil.
			In Natchez, Mississippi, we visited a cotton plantation to learn about how cotton changed the lives of many African Americans who were forced to work as slaves in the fields.

In Montgomery, Alabama, we learned about the birthplace of the civil rights movement and visited the Civil Rights Memorial which honors the 40 Americans who were killed during the civil rights movement. We also read about Ruby Bridges, a little girl who was one of the first blacks to go to an all white school.