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I went on an overnight grade 8 field trip; And all I got was a coon skin cap
Topic Started: Jun 16 2006, 06:01 PM (253 Views)
dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
Well, I survived.

Yesterday morning at 7 am, I boarded a coach bus with 29 grade 8 students and 4 other teachers to drive to Toronto (about 4 hours) for an overnight field trip.

The kids were remarkably subdued on the way there. Most of them were so paranoid about sleeping in and missing the bus that they didn't get a whole lot of sleep.

We arrived in Toronto at about 11:00 and went to the St. Lawrence market for a bit of shopping and lunch. The kids were adorable. We told them they had to stay in their groups (which they chose) but that as long as they stayed in the building, they didn't have to stay with a teacher. Most of them stuck with their teacher, though, and even when we sat down and told them to go off on their own, they kept returning to show off their purchases and tell us about the bartering they did. The best purchase - one kid bought a 'coon tail cap and wore it for the remainder of the trip.

We then boarded a bus and headed to the CN Tower. The kids were thrilled with the glass floor, and I spent about 20 minutes pointing out landmarks to the kids. We got to watch part of a Blue Jays game from the CN Tower (the dome was open, so we could look down into the ballpark).

Then we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe at the Skydome for dinner. We got to watch the crew taking out the field turf through the windows of the restaurant, which the kids were thrilled with.

Then we went to the hotel. Oi. It is a (non-university owned) residence. It was DISGUSTING. Luckily, the kids took the "laugh so we don't cry" route (so did the teachers) and didn't mind that their accommodations were pathetic (our tour organizing company is going to get an earful about it though).

We then got back on the bus to go to The Blue Man Group show. It was FANTASTIC!! It's an odd show - I'm not sure I could describe it if I tried. The music was amazing, and the visuals were stunning. It had a lot of humour, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was also fun to sing "White Rabbit" with my vice principal (part of the show).

One of our students is blind and wants to become a sound technician. So his Resource Teacher for the Blind set up an interview with one of the performers from the Blue Man Group and one of the sound techs. Matt did an interview with them for the audio yearbook he's producing for the school. The two guys he interviewed were AMAZING. They were just as impressed with Matt as he was with them. They let him play all the instruments, and the sound tech let him run the pre-show sound check. They also allowed Matt to get a video of part of the rehearsal (a HUGE deal, since they are very strict about recording of any kind). The performer (whose name was Shamus) and the sound guy also gave him their private email addresses so he could keep in contact with them. It was an amazing experience for this kid.

Back to the hotel. The boys and girls were staying on seperate floors, and it was decided that I would stay on the boy's floor. I was a bit worried that they'd have concerns, so I knocked on the door to the common area and asked the boys if I could come in. They didn't understand why it would be a big deal for me to be in there with them, and told me to just come in and hang out. They ran around in their boxers getting ready and being hilariously funny about the state of the accommodations. The girls were FAR more modest about being in front of the female teachers than the guys were about being in their boxers in front of me.

Me and two of the teachers (one of them the vice principal) stayed up til 3. Oi. That did not make for a good morning.

This morning, we went to "Olympic Spirit", where the kids got to do do simulations of all kinds of Olympic events. It was pretty cool. One of the things the kids have been doing in Phys Ed is "power walking". So two of the teachers and I got the best power walker in the class to go along will our silliness. We went to the Sprinting simulation (they time a 10 metre run). The four of us were racing with no one else. So we set up in the blocks, and at the gun, we power walked (complete with the bum waggle) to the finish line. I think the other schools there thought we were odd.

Then we went to the Eaton Centre for some shopping. The kids had a blast. After that, to the Parliament Buildings for a quick tour. But we were all burnt out, and none of us wanted to be there.

The bus ride home was insane. The kids were all on a huge high from the trip. I'm exhausted and glad to be home, but I had such a great time, and I'm so proud of our kids!
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

My Flickr Photostream


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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
sounds like a blast, Dol, glad you had fun!
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Optimistic
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HOLY CARP!!!
I agree!

-Optimistic, secretly glad that SHE never had to supervise an 8th grade class trip :hair:
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
heh, Opti...it could still happen :P

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Optimistic
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HOLY CARP!!!
Well, as today was my last day of teaching until who knows when, and I don't intend on having children of my own for QUITE a few years yet, I think I have a bit of time to warm up to the idea ^_^

Seriously, I hear our 8th graders can get pretty crazy on their class trip to NYC, and that's only a day trip- I can't imagine overnight!
PHOTOS

I must have a prodigious quantity of mind; it takes me as much as a week, sometimes, to make it up.
- Mark Twain


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot
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BeeLady
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Middle Aged Carp
Sounds like a blast! Isn't it fun to experience these sort of adventures with kids who are not your own?

If you had to be a PARENT chaperone, it might have been a whole other experience! :o
"My wheel shall sing responsive to my tread,
And I will spin so fine, so strong a thread
Fate shall not cut it, nor Time's forces break"
"Distaff and Spindle: Sonnets by Mary Ashley Townsend" 1895
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DivaDeb
HOLY CARP!!!
I so totally agree, BeeLady. I chaperoned theatre kids for a week in NY a couple summers ago. TOTAL blast. But I'm still tired :P
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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
One pic. (I'm ok with posting it since you can't really see the kid's face). One of my favourite students with his new coon skin cap:

Posted Image

"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

My Flickr Photostream


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apple
one of the angels
8th graders... you are lucky to be around them.. they are so so so vital.
it behooves me to behold
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
The boy doing the soundcheck at Blue Man is a great story!!!! :thumb:
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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iainhp
Middle Aged Carp

I don't know what's usual for 8th grade trips around the country (we live in San Diego), but my daughter just went on a 1 week 8th grade trip to the east coast (there was about 100 of them in 3 groups). Started in Boston and got as far as Philly. Pretty much covered all the historical stuff, plus tours of both Harvard and Yale, a theatre visit to Broadway (Hairspray), UN bldg tour, and other miscellaneous stuff. Came back tired and claimed 1 week was too short for the trip. From what I understand they have no shortage of teachers volunteering for the trip.

The kids have to generate several reports along the way, keep a diary (graded), and produce a scrapbook to be turned in 2 weeks after they get back (also graded). The teachers take tons of digital photos and produce a CD of photos of the trip (distributed to all kids on the trip). There is also a slide show one night about 3 weeks after they get back, for kids and parents, with teachers giving stories and comments. All scrap books are put on display for this evening as well.

All in all - well organised and executed, and from kids and teachers comments, a lot of fun.

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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
I wish we could do long trips like that. There's a couple reasons why. Money is a HUGE issue. Most of the kids were able to go only because they did fundraising for it. It's an economically depressed area. But the bigger problem is that the Board has tried to stop us from doing ANY overnight trips. Schools that have had long-standing traditions of doing them are still allowed. Our school hadn't done one in 8 years, but our principal lobbied for us so it was approved.

Quite honestly, I think the other problem is time. We barely can get the curriculum covered as it is, and at this point in the year, it's a huge crunch. Our report cards are due Monday, so though we could have them do assignments on their trip, they wouldn't be used for assessment (and the kids are clever enough to know that!)

I think one night was enough. Yeah, a long trip would be fun, but after the two days we were exhausted, and so were the kids.
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

My Flickr Photostream


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iainhp
Middle Aged Carp

I should probably also comment that my daughter started having problems with anxiety in 4th/5th grade. She stopped going on sleep overs and didn't like to be away from us at all. There were days we just couldn't get her to school, and she was very uncomfortable going away on family vacations (leaving home). She really wanted to go to 6th grade camp, and we got her to the bus, but she just couldn't get on it even with her friends support. She made up her mind that she had to work on this and started going on sleepovers with her bear as a lifeline. She has since ditched the bear (most nights) and managed to go on 2 and 3 night sleepovers at grandmas (about an hour away). Still, we weren't sure if she would get on the plane for the east coast trip, but she did. The bear stayed home, but she did take the bears ribbon "just in case". All in all, a big step for her. She has persuaded grandma to take her on a girls theatre trip to NY next spring break!

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iainhp
Middle Aged Carp

Quote:
 

Quite honestly, I think the other problem is time. We barely can get the curriculum covered as it is, and at this point in the year, it's a huge crunch.


I probably should have stated that there are minimum GPAs for the trip - both academic AND citizenship.

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Jack Frost
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Bull-Carp
Dol,

Sounds like a great trip. I used to do class trips with high schoolers...now THAT was a challenge!

Blue Man Group is great great great--especially for that age group.

We saw it as part of our 10th aniversary trip to Boston and then sent eldest son to see it with his girlfriend as a HS graduation present.

jf

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Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
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