Eighth Grade Boston Learning Journey

Each year at Mount Madonna School, the eighth grade students and the history faculty participate in a learning journey to historic Boston, Massachusetts. During this week-long trip, we travel around Boston and surrounding cities to visit public history sites of colonial and revolutionary events and other more recent cultural sites that highlight the history of the people in the United States. Since Boston is a city that experienced slavery, revolution, war and abolition, our travel experiences deepen student understandings of the foundational arguments for freedom and democracy, a core theme in the eighth grade U.S. history curriculum. Students also get to be part of a unique experience with their classmates that contributes to our mission at Mount Madonna School: to foster creative, intellectual and ethical growth in all students.

Oh…the places we go

Boston Freedom Trail: “Walk into History” with 18th century tour guide; King’s Chapel & Cemetery (grave of John Winthrop) Granary Burial Ground (graves of Paul Revere, Crispus Attucks and the site of the Boston Massacre, Sam Adams, John Hancock, etc.); Faneuil Hall Marketplace; Guided Tour Massachusetts State House; Guided Tour of “Church of the Presidents” in Adams National Park (Quincy, MA); Abolitionist Debate Program at the Museum of African American History: Salem Witch Museum and village walk; Minuteman National Historical Park; walking the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA (site of the first battle of American Revolution); Walden Pond and Henry David Thoreau Cabin; Orchard House; Ferry ride to the Charleston Navy Yard in Boston harbor to USS Constitution Museum; Bunker Hill monument and museum; Tea Party Ship Museum and “Abigail’s Tearoom”; Ice Cream at Emack & Bolios; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library at the University of Massachusetts; Museum of Fine Arts-Boston

Boston Learning Journey News