September 11 Memorial Walkway of Southern Illinois

September 11 Memorial Walkway of Southern Illinois

Last week, we visited the brand new September 11 Memorial Walkway of Southern Illinois, located in Belleville right in front of Engine House #4.

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There is a 343 foot walkway, representing the 343 firefighters that died in the attacks. Placed along both sides of the walkway are signs that detail the timeline of the attacks, down to the minute they occurred.

The heart of the memorial is a pair of concrete pillars, which represent the twin towers, set on a pentagon, which represents the Pentagon Building in Washington D.C. Supported by the pillars is a twisted beam that was part of the World Trade Center, and which Belleville acquired in 2012.

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This is just phase one of the memorial. They are also planning on adding an area off of the walkway to represent the field in Shanksville, PA, where Flight 93 crashed, as well as some seating near the parking lot.

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This is a beautiful memorial. We first saw the beam a few years ago when we were visiting the fire station, and we watched with interest as they created the walkway. There is something special about walking through it, though, and taking time to read all the signs and remember.

2016-17 School Year–Week Four

Just this morning, Turkey asked me if we had really already completed four weeks of school. I have to admit, I’m as surprised as he is!

We have finally left the review stage of math. Turkey and Bunny aren’t necessarily thrilled about that, especially when they were given a page of algebraic equations containing absolute values to solve, but hopefully they’ll survive. They did do a great on this week’s math test, as did Ladybug!

In science, Ladybug is learning about different kinds of whales, including dolphins, porpoises, and my favorite, narwhals. Turkey and Bunny have been learning more about air, including air pollution, and how some pollution (especially lead) has been almost eradicated since the 1970s.

Our history lessons have focused on both Afghanistan and Africa in the mid-1800s. We learned about the growing tensions between Britain and Russia, and how that shaped Afghanistan. We also learned about David Livingstone and his commitment to the people of Africa.

Turkey and Bunny are currently both working on their first big essay of the year in writing. Turkey has chosen to write about he history of Lego, and Bunny is (surprisingly for the first time in her academic career) writing about rabbits. Ladybug’s writing continues to be similar to her work last year, but now she is working on summarizing longer passages. This week’s readings came from a family favorite book: Homer Price. She is also continuing to work on diagramming sentences…thankfully, she still thinks that’s fun!

While reading through The Blue Fairy Book, we have come across some stories that I don’t ever remember having heard before, but that Turkey insists I read to him at some point. I guess I don’t listen to myself read very well! Treasure Island continues to leave us in suspense at the end of every chapter…I’m trying very hard not to read ahead to find out happens!

We may not have gone a big field trip this week, but we did visit the September 11 Memorial Walkway of Southern Illinois, which had phase one completed just in time for the fifteenth anniversary of 9-11. We had seen the World Trade Center remnant at the fire station before, but walking along the path and reading all the signs was a very moving experience, and, for the children, an educational one, as well.

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