Mr. Ippolito's East Coast Adventure

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Only four spots left

Contact Mr. Ippolito immediately if you are interested. A wait list will begin once the trip fills. Deposit money is fully refundable for any wait-listed students who don't end up going on the trip.

Friday, August 21, 2009

East Coast Adventure 2010

I will host a brief, 15-minute Parent Information Meeting on Thursday, September 10, right at the end of Back-to-School Night.

This a great opportunity to find out more about this exciting opportunity. I currently have about 20 students traveling on this trip, which means I have room for about 25 more (45 maximum). At this meeting, I will give all interested families information about this year's trip, plus a packet of all the materials you will need to register for the trip.

If you aren't able to attend the meeting, I urge you to do a couple things:
1. Check out the link at the right. You can download the PowerPoint from the meeting that may answer many of your questions. If you have other questions, e-mail me at rippolito@gmail.com or call (661) 347-4990.

2. Send your child to Room B-7 so I can meet your son or daughter and give him/her the packet of materials.

The past two years, my trip has filled completely by the end of September. I intentionally keep my numbers small so that students can have a more personal, meaningful traveling and learning experience. If you believe your son or daughter is ready, and has the maturity and responsibility to handle this trip, then you'll want to sign up before it's too late. Please call or e-mail if you have any questions!

RVI

Friday, April 10, 2009

Missed any shopping?

We were moving pretty quickly that last 36 hours, and although we spent PLENTY of time in the touristy souvenir shops, we skipped some historical gift shops at the end of our tour that I wish we had more time to explore, but they still offer a selection of items online. Here are three I would recommend:

Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/shop

Ford's Theatre (enter the coupon code 6001209 and save 10% because we visited there)
http://www.fords.org

National Archives (I was so bummed we had to skip this one!)
http://www.estore.archives.gov/

Of course, it's entirely possible that your child has already spent enough of your money as it is. If so, you can just delete and have a great day!

Cheers,
Mr. Ippolito

East Coast Adventure wrap-up

Thank you again to our East Coast Trip parents for being so supportive and helpful in making our trip safe, fun, educational, and memorable. Thank you to our chaperones: Mr. Martinez, Ms. Reinhold, Miss Bretthauer, and the lovely Mrs. Ippolito for all their help in keeping kids safe, for counting so many times (. . . 41, 42 . . . 43, OK we have them all!) and for reminding students that they are proudly representing their families and representing Rio Norte with their good manners and citizenship. I think our chaperones' greatest strength was that each was a role model and an example of good character for all our kids.

Thank you to our students. For as frustrating and annoying as some of the behaviors were in the first couple days of our trip, after a few conferences with students and a handful of e-mails and phone calls to parents, we all settled into "a groove" with each other and the last four days went great. I was especially proud of our students in Washington, DC. While other middle and high school students from other groups were chasing each other around monuments and memorials, smacking gum in cemeteries, and texting in museums, our students were polite, thankful, and respectful. We were praised by several adults along our travels for how well-mannered and polite we were.

Most impressive throughout the whole trip was that our students were so ON TIME. This promptness, the best I have seen out of all these East Coast trips I have done, meant that we were able to see more and do more than any other student group I have traveled with.

The Day 6 photos are now online, and I was able to capture a few videos from our trip as well. You can check out the videos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/trippolito/EastCoastTrip2009VIDEOS?authkey=Gv1sRgCMj-yMX0yfjRgAE&feat=directlink

I will have over 1,000 photos from my camera and Mrs. Ippolito's camera burned to a disc and ready to give to your child by Tuesday, April 14 (if you come to visit me in my classroom on Monday, April 13, you can wish me a happy birthday, but I probably will not have your disc ready yet, so just give me one more day back in my classroom). Also available for pickup will be your child's student ID card. Hanna Kerby, I found your disposable camera. E-mail me, and we'll figure out a way to get that, and your photo disc, to you.

Anything I missed? If so, let me know. Thanks for a great trip!

Cheers,

Mr. Ippolito