Classy Trips

This school year is unbelievably winding down - less than one month left - and you know what that means!  That's right - FIELD TRIPS!  Everyone knows that teachers save the field trips for the last two months of school - and this year has been no exception. 

 I have been lucky enough to go on every single field trip with Henry and Jed's classes.

Field trips for the most part are much as I remember them from when I was younger.  The busses look exactly the same -yellow on the outside,  flat gray seats with no seatbelts, windows that slide open from the top down, and high ceilings with emergency exits in them.  They are also very loud.  

Getting to our destination is often very exciting - its early in the morning, we're not at school, the bus is roaring along and the kids are chatting, chatting, chatting, and we adults are chatting, chatting, chatting.  

We eventually pull up to the destination parking lot and immediately get the speech to remember which bus we are on and to look for it at the appointed time.  The bus driver will stay here and take a nap.  

Inside the field trip destination the kids are excited and involved in the intended activities, for maybe the first hour or so.  Then they start to get pesky and asking "when do we eat?" because field trips almost always involve a sack picnic lunch.  Lunchables are very popular in these cases, I have noticed.  Then either part way through the activity, or most likely at the tail end, we find a nice shady spot in a park or near the bus, and sit down and eat our lunches.  

The kids eat quickly then spend the remainder of the time chasing each other around whatever open space we happen to be near. By then its time to line up and head back to the school.  Back on the bus everyone spreads out a little bit more than when we got on the first time.  Some kids are even determined to secure their own bus bench so they can immediately lay down and fall asleep the minute we hit the road, which they often do.  Us adults spread out a bit more, and look out the windows at the scenery and contemplate the rest of the day, remarking to one or another only occasionally on the ride back. 

Finally we pull up to the school and rouse the sleeping kids, herding everyone off the bus and marching them back to the classroom.  Thanks to the naps, everyone has a second wind and is ready to discuss non-stop the field trip and what they are going to do after school. 



Two weeks ago yesterday I accompanied Henry's first grade class to the Ocean Institute at Dana Point Harbor.  This is a popular spot for school trips, not only for the educational programs offered inside the Institute on the local ocean dwelling population, but also for the day and overnight trips offered on The Pilgrim, a large pirate-ship type vessel which is moored at the Institute and takes older elementary aged kids out for an authentic sea going adventures. 

We've spent a lot of time here with family kayaking and playing in the sand and walking on the jetty, but it was fun to go inside the Institute and learn more about what they have to offer. 

After learning about the ocean inside, the kids then get to go outside and down to the coastline side of the harbor to explore the small tide pools found among the large rocks. Mom, you remember when you came with me and the twins on this field trip?  Henry's day was mostly similar to that, except we didn't walk down along the coastline as far this day as we did that day.

Here's a look at Henry's class trip:

Ocean Institute Field Trip

One week ago yesterday I accompanied Jed's Kindergarten class on their final field trip of the year - the Santa Ana Zoo.  Although perhaps geographically one of the closest zoos located to our house, I'd never actually been here.  Its a smaller zoo in the middle of a very urban setting (the 5 freeway runs right next to it) with no large animals i.e. camels, giraffes, rhinos, although they do bring in elephants on the weekends for riding purposes. Mostly it has monkeys, birds, small cats, some kangaroos and emus, and a very awesome bald eagle. It is also known for its lush vegetation and foliage, and some fun hands-on exhibits. 

This trip was nice and relaxing and a morning well spent.

SantaAnaZoo