Las Vegas fourth-graders tour Carson City

Fourth-graders from Nevada's largest elementary school toured the state capital Wednesday and Thursday.

As part of their Nevada history course, the Fay Heron Elementary students took a nine-hour bus ride to Carson City to tour the museums and other historic sites.

"We thought a hands-on experience would be more effective," said Principal Anne Grisham. "This has been a fantastic experience."

The students kept journals to document their thoughts and feelings throughout the tour.

"When they get back to Las Vegas, they will do a lot of writing exercises about what they've learned," Grisham said.

The entire trip was paid for by a grant through the Nevada Gaming Foundation. Without the grant, teacher Suzanne Ramos said the excursion would have been impossible.

"We're a high-risk school," she said. "Most of our students would never have had the opportunity to see the capital."

Manuel Martinez, 10, said Carson City had a lot to offer. "There's a lot of cool places," he said.

Those cool places included the Children's Museum, the Railroad Museum of Northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe, the Robert's House, the Stewart Indian School Museum, the Nevada State Library & Archives, and the Capitol.

Manuel's favorite stop was the Stewart Indian Museum.

"They had a whole bunch of stuff," he said. "But I felt sad because they didn't get to see their parents a lot."

Samantha Feliciano, 10, said she saw a big difference between the two cities.

"I think Carson is nice but there's not that many people here like in Las Vegas," she said.

David De la Vega, 9, liked Lake Tahoe the best.

"I like Lake Tahoe because I didn't have to walk that much and I got a chance to play in the sand," he said.

For some, their friends made more of an impact than the capital.

"My favorite part is the motel and sometimes we don't get to sleep because we're talking too much," said Reyna Maya, 10.

Fay Heron Elementary School has 1,350 students. About 100 of them were on the field trip.