Quality Hill Academy Students Try Transit

Wonder where to find the next generation of transportation experts? Look no further than the second grade class of Quality Hill Academy.

Students held a Publishing Party at the KCP&L building earlier this week to present all they had learned to parents and community members. The Publishing Party featured student books and posters about the many facets of transportation.

From buses to the KC Streetcar, trains to taxis, teachers integrated transportation across the second grade curriculum. In science, kids learned about force of motion and the types of energy used by different modes of transit. In art, the students drew pictures from their transit field trips and made posters that incorporated photos and their own drawing. And at the Publishing Party, students showed parents, community members and fellow students the illustrated books they had made. Teacher Erika Mabion said they learned to write in the “literary non-fiction” style for the project.

We sat down with several students to find out what they learned.

Serenity’s book was about the bus. She says her features of the bus are the “ding” when a stop is requested, and the voice that tells you where you area.  Serenity says she rides the school bus to field trips. I rode with my grandma. It’s really long, and it has lots of stuff inside. And it uses electicity.”

Michael wrote about KC Streetcar. “I like that it has two sides.  One can be used for emergencies and one is for regular driving,” Michael knew about all the emergency exits for a bus, too. Michael’s book about the included colorful drawings from the students’ trips, and his “about the author page” proclaims “I love the streetcar!”

Perla (above, left) enjoyed the bus and the streetcar. She enjoyed taking the KC Streetcar to a field trip at Science City. “The bus was great. We can ride it to the school and to here (KCP&L). We can ride it and have fun.”

Torey is a regular rider on the KC Streetcar with her mother. When she was learning about the bus, how to request a stop made an impression on her. “There’s this yellow wire, and when you pull it there’s a ding. It tells the driver when it’s your stop.” On the streetcar, Torey likes the multiple doors, and the way the sides curve so there isn’t a roof.

RideKC Bus thanks Quality Hill Academy for sharing their work and being such wonderful ambassadors for RideKC and Kansas City.

Watch the video for a look at the students' projects: