Field Trip!

I took my students on their first field trip of the school year.  It seems so early to me, and yet it was such perfect weather to be outdoors on the farm!  Part of the grade three curriculum is comparing and contrasting urban and rural communities.  We were able to book all four of our grade three classes into a working farm/outdoor education centre about half an hour from our school.  Considering the stressful field trip I had last school year, I am just pleased as punch that today went smoothly!

Field trips are stressful, every single time you go on one.  There are so many kids to keep track of (24 for me this year), and parents to meet and keep your cool in front of (haha, not that I really have trouble with that), kids with allergies and epi-pens to keep track of.... sigh.  I always find it stressful.  However, this was such a great location, we were the only school there today... it was contained, yet the kids still had space to explore... overall, very successful day!  No one was hurt, or lost, or any of those negative things that I imagine happening every trip we take.  It's so important that kids have the hands-on experiences that field trips provide, so I'll always plan them even though they make me anxious!

The kids had a chance to pick vegetables from a big vegetable garden... and of course the farmer made a point to say that their teacher would probably let them taste the vegetables or... GULP... "make a soup"!  So, I have the most random vegetables (2 small potatoes, a few carrots, some swiss chard, some turnips and a squash)... and when Mr. Lock (my personal chef) comes home, I'll be asking him to help me turn them in to something edible to share with my kids.  I don't like "teaching with food" and rarely, if ever, plan experiences for my students that involve food... but since we're learning about processed vs. unprocessed foods in health, and they picked these veggies themselves, I suppose I should help them to try them out.

We'll see what Mr. Lock comes up with! HA!  He... doesn't know about this yet!

I am now completely exhausted, and plan on doing absolutely nothing productive for the rest of the evening besides dealing with the veggies!  I'm glad the Fall TV season is starting up, I have the new How I Met Your Mother to catch up on, and then I'll peruse and see if there are any new Tuesday night shows to watch.

Successful field trip!  Hooray!