five for Friday...the field trip edition

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/2013/05/five-for-friday-linky-party-may-17th.html

I have been MIA the last couple of days because I have been exhausted.  Not that I am not tonight, but here I am with Five for Friday...The field trip edition.

So Thursday we wrangled our students onto two charter buses and headed towards the shore.


1.  Lunch and the beach

My students and I live in eastern North Carolina, about 2 hours west of Kitty Hawk.  There were students yesterday that had never seen the ocean.  They had never been to the beach.  One of the first timers was scared of the water, she didn't know what to think.  Her sister was with me on the bus, every time she saw water she thought that it was the ocean.  I kept telling her no, when you see the ocean you will see nothing on the other side.  When she finally got a glance, her jaw dropped!  It was a great experience to see her reaction!

Here we are at the beach.  Yes the waves surprised us a couple of times and we ended up a littler wetter than expected.  However we had a great time!

2.  The aquarium

Ok, so the otters were sleeping :( The sting ray were avoiding our hands in the touch pool.  The spider crabs were at the far end of the touch pool.  The animals were a little tired from several schools that were at the aquarium before us.  However we got to see the turtles, the sharks, the sea horses, and lots of snakes (much to the chagrin of some of the mothers).

3.  The parents

There are parents that can make and break a field trip.  We had both.  We had some awesome parents that helped so much!  They took a group of students, helped with lunches, cleaned kids' feet after the beach, and were definitely an asset!!!  There were a few of the other kind, but I rather not dwell on the let downs!  You learn a little more from each field trip!

4.  The buses

We had to take charter buses since it was a longer trip and we would be back after school let out.  It costs a lot of money for these buses, so it is a very special trip for our students.  Well they caused a lot of headaches on this trip!  The other bus (that I was not on) did not have air conditioning from about 20 minutes into the trip there!  They went the whole 2/12 hours there and then back with no ac in almost 90 degree weather.  Our bus was the one overheating.  They had to put water into it before we got on it.  Then on our way back we had to stop and put more water/coolant in it.

5.  A late night
My students come to me at 7:35 in the morning.  We left at 8:45.  Because of the buses we were late back to school and did not arrive until 7 (we were supposed to be back at 6).  We then waited for students' rides until almost 8.  So I had a 12 1/2 hour day with a 2 minute bathroom break.  I was (and am) exhausted.  I am thrilled with my students' experience!  I am sure they will remember all the good times.  The inconveniences were just that (and a little bit of lesson for the teachers).

14 days to go!

Crystal