Previous to arriving I printed the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Junior Ranger Program to give us a head start on our Exploration Notebook. To earn your Junior Ranger Badge you must complete the same amount of pages as your age, in addition to visiting the touch table and being able to list three items you saw to a Ranger. Let me just start off by saying this is a twenty-three page book that goes into a lot of detail for a younger child it is overwhelming. Even though it is not required to complete the entire book since we are utilizing the Junior Ranger book as curriculum we usually try to attempt to complete the entire book. So that Jaxon would not get discouraged we broke this book up into three sections. Prior to our visit we were able to pull out, discuss and complete ahead of time pages 6, 7, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20 and 22. These pages included activities such as puzzle solving, crossword puzzles, we discussed our ancestors, where the Sonoran Desert is located, explored pottery and mazes just to name a few. This gave us a great opportunity to lay a strong foundation and have an idea of what to expect upon our arrival. We also included the wonderful pop up book Ancient Dwellings of the Southwest, which was a great conclusion to our trip since it contained a great deal of the locations we had previously visited . Since this location was the first United States archeological preserve a great majority of the Junior Ranger book is teaching the children how to investigate in the same as an archeologist might. Prior to entering the National Monument we read all of our safety tips for exploration on page three, and followed by reviewing the map and guide of the location on page four so that we knew where everything was located.
As we were driving down the small country road we were able to see the towering Casa Grande Ruins in the distance. It was like nothing we had experienced on our entire trip and immediately our bodies filled with excitement as we pulled into the gate. No picture could be taken to explain the presence you feel when standing next to the ruins.
Immediately following our arrival we walked the gardens located directly in front of the visitors center locating each plant and matching their names before proceeding into the museum.
We then made our way to the theater to watch the film Case Grande: House of Many Stories. This was a great film to help tell the story of Casa Grande and the people of its past.
During our exploration of the National Monument we carried with us the below scavenger hunt for animals unfortunately we had arrived in the heat of the day and only saw lizards during our visit.
When exploring the Ancestral Sonoran Desert homes I read Jaxon the plaques in front of each home along with the year. Take note that the dates stated on each plaque actually have nothing to do with placing the houses in order from oldest to newest. Due to this we got the entire page incorrect.
As you enter the museum on your left you will find a plaque that discusses the native language of the ancient Sonoran Desert people. This plaque gave us the ability to complete page fourteen completely.
The displays within museum were fantastic and extremely well done which I somehow was overwhelmed and did not capture. The last page we completed inside the museum was exploring trade clues on page seventeen. This took some time as we went through the large exhibit discussing each item that they grew and had access to. Then turned towards the discussion of what trade was and how it worked and then onto some of the items they might have traded. Since we had not discussed this previously it took us a little bit of time to learn on site.
After exploring outside we returned to the museum to locate yet another awe inspiring exhibit which incased a model of how the ruins might have looked in the beginning. We then completed page eighteen of our Junior Ranger packet.
The location was a wonderful experience opening up subjects of exploration, history and preservation. It was almost as if it was meant to be after a long trip of learning so much history it ended at a location that's main purpose was to explore ruins discovering stories of the past and how to preserve it for generations to come.
