I dare you to throw your sandwich at the bus driver!

This Thursday was our end of the year field trip. For the past three years now, I have taken my First Graders on a guided hike through Giant City State Park's trail. I absolutley love this field trip! It is a science based (favorite subject) trip that also gets them outdoors (Bonus!). Every year the kids get really into it (and let's face it, so do I!). Well let me tell you, every year it is quite an adventure in some way or another. For those of you who don't know, when you take off somewhere with 30 kids, there is bound to be some kind of drama tangled in with the excitement.

As we begin our day, we must start out with one of the main activities on this day's list...the hour bus ride to the park. Now if you are one of these people who likes to think while they ride along somewhere and enjoy to hear the wind blow through the windows of your car and can really get some peace...don't... I repeat... DON'T ride a school bus ANYWHERE! :) I have quite a few friends who would not be able to have been able to take this. I have been on enough buses with First Graders to know what to expect.
First of all, this is SO EXCITING! Lol! In their mind this is so out of the oridinary and look all my friends are here too! The best day ever! I get to sit in this seat with a really high back and look across the isle to see two other classmates doing the same thing. I suddenly have the urge to stand up! I also want to reach across the isle and touch whoever I can that is closest to me...and then take the challenge to touch whoever is farthest away from me. Holy cow I just realized that if I talk loud enough, everyone at the front of the bus AND the back of the bus can hear what I am saying too. I must do this. For some reason, I now want to start singing any random song I think I can get the rest of the bus to sing with me. And all the while I do everything I am doing, I will be peeking me head into the isle and watch what my teach is doing.
I have come to the conslusion that this is what the kids are thinking. Lol! This year I was pleasantly surprised to find some of my girls singing Bad Romance as their choice for in bus entertainment. I sat, smiled, and in my head sang right along with this group of girls, and I couldn't help but think...I must be doing something right! :) I find this whole bus scenerio quite entertaining. I don't let it get to me, and just go with the flow.


Another interesting part of riding on a bus somewhere is the luck of the draw when it comes to bus drivers. They are like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are going to get! ;) Some are very laid back, some strict, some know where they are going and how to get us there, and others I wouldn't want driving my car let alone a yellow tank full of kids! One thing I do know, don't make the bus driver mad! They are holding your life in their hands. ;) This year we had a scene much like one from the movie Austin Powers (the firt one). Remember how Austin was trying to turn that little car around in the hallway and got it completely stuck and pinned between two walls? Well that was us, pinned between a tree and a car. We were trying to turn around to follow our nature guide to the trail. We pivoted this way, and that way. I saw how close the tree was, and then the car and wondered how mad the driver would get if I got out and took a picture of this spectacle! Well, I knew enough to NOT try that. I really didn't want to walk home! This could happen to anyone, I know. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if I were a bus driver. They would be saying, don't have her drive your field trip! LOL! Just one of the memories of the field trip scene that make me smile. :)

The field trip itself was awesome! The kids loved the hike and learned alot about nature and what they see outdoors. They even took them to the creek and showed them how Native Americans used rocks for face paint, and painted their faces. Really neat. We ate a picnic, the kids played. It was just a great day! On the way home, some kids were sleeping, and others just sitting tired as could be, and some were still searching inside their lunch box hoping to find a treat they missed. I know I have many more years of this exact scene, but each year it still makes me sad to see the day end. Each year I get a new class, full of new faces, and new identities. I love each class that I have. My family says I say this every year, but I have my favorite class this year. I hope I continue to say that every year. For me, it just keeps getting better every year. And I hope I keep getting better as a teacher every year as well. But on this day when I look at their satisfied, tired, sweet faces I begin to tear up. My adventure with this group is over. Sure, I will see them in the hallway and say hi and ask how they are...but never again will we work as a team, or family as I say, together. We are no longer 1B. I remain 1B, but with new recruits of next year. My family is gone. They are moving on, and I am left behind for the next group. I love my students very much! I wish nothing but the best for them, and that includes going to Second Grade. I just know one thing...I already miss them.