hallnico: I Never Thought I Would Get To Take Field Trips Again...

I've been on two field trips with my 4th grade class so far. The first, a total disaster, was when we went to see the movie "Where the Wild Things Are". My teacher was on maternity leave and the sub we had at the time didn't have much control over the class and they went a little berserk on the ride back to school. The sub vowed to never take another field trip with them.

My teacher came back a couple weeks before break and gained some control back. She has a really good handle on their behavior and is a great teacher. I'm really lucky to be in her classroom. I saw first hand some things to do and some things not to do when dealing with children.

Anyway, last week on Thursday we took a trip to the aircraft carrier The Intrepid. It served during WWII and other missions since then. It's been anchored in the Hudson River on Manhattan's west side where it serves as a museum. The ship was huge. I think everyone in Dimondale could comfortably fit on one floor of the ship. We also walked through a submarine and a Concorde jet. The best part was that both buses we had taken to get there broke down when we were getting ready to leave so we spent extra time walking around. That was when we got to walk through the Concorde jet and on the flight deck of the carrier. The control tower and the planes on the top deck were really amazing.

I had to sympathize with the kids. I remember not appreciating history at that age. While we were walking through the submarine all they could talk about was how it smelled. "Ms. Nicole, I have asthma. I have to get out of here!" Unfortunately, the space is so small that you have to walk in single file and there was an older gentle man in front of us that was trying to truly appreciate the unique opportunity.

It was a great chance to hang out with the kids without having to try to get them back on task.

For safety reasons, I can't post pictures of the kids but here are a couple of some of the things we got to see.