Field Trips

I may have said this before, but I am terrified of field trips.  The classroom is a safe place where it is unlikely that you will lose a child.  The zoo or the farm or the park, not so much.  Those places have no structure, no lines you have to walk in, no being quite, lots of wide open space to be kids.  If you follow the news, you may have heard of the first grader that climbed over the fence and was malled on a first grade field trip.  That's my worst nightmare!

Today was our big zoo field trip.  I was dealing with anxiety all morning.  Finally, we loaded the bus and set out for the zoo around 9.  We got into the zoo and I sent a few kids with parents and kept 8 boys.  The first thing you see inside the zoo is an alligator and then the flamingos.  As we stood and stared at the flamigos all of my anxiety melted away.  The students loved just watching the animals.  We only saw a handful of animals due to the bus not arriving on time and bad weather, but not one student complained.  They were so happy to have spent 30 minutes inside the zoo. 

Since we didn't spend much time there, I didn't get many pictures.  However, I was able to capture a few of my favorite moments.

Not sure what happened, but these guys all started squaking and then they fluffed up their feathers and started fighting.  So funny!

We stood and watched this guy for over 5 minutes.  He would strut around his little area, let out a loud noise to get your attention and then spread his feathers and strut around like he was a model.  The kids were just amazed.

These nice tall fences made me feel much better about my children staying safe!

It was this guy's first trip to the zoo.  He was so amazed by everything.  I hated that he didn't get to spend more time there and see more animals.

This was my favorite part of the field trip.  All of the students up against the glass in awe.  It's such a special gift to share the wonders of the zoo with these children.  Have I mentioned how much I love my job?

A Day at the Zoo

Somedays at work, I feel like I'm at the zoo, but today I really was.  We took a field trip to the zoo.  I'm not going to lie, I was VERY nervous.  Twenty 5-6 year old kids.  Wide open spaces.  No structures.  Wild animals.  Those things all together just spelled disaster in my brain.  I have to admit, with the exception of the one adventerous girl who takes off on her on quite frequently and the boy who got his arm stuck in the fence in front of the white tiger exhibit, things went pretty well. 

For field trips, our art teacher has the students draw and paint on tshirts.  Look how cute they are...

I had never been to the zoo here.  I have been to the Ft. Worth Zoo, the Dallas Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo.  I knew a zoo in a town of 100,000 in the middle of nowhere wouldn't compare.  But, surprisingly, it still had it's on unique features that impressed me.  You see, I love giraffes.  I have no idea why, but I do.  And this zoo has a bridge over the giraffe habitat.  You could walk up on the bridge and feed the giraffes.  So cool!

Here are some other pictures from the zoo.  The librarian wrote a grant for 22 cameras and lets teachers/students take them on field trips.  She also teaches the kids how to use them.  These are the pictures the kids took.

(I'm not sure this was real.  It didn't move the whole time we were there.)

(In case you were wondering, this is a prarie dog.)

(American Bison)

After the zoo, we went to the park to have a sack lunch and to play.  We had a blast, but were all worn out when it was over with.