Elementary School Field Trips

When I was in school I really don't remember taking field trips. But when I was a teacher, we usually took two per year. In the lean years of education back in the '80s (I know, it's even more lean now!), our trips were pretty lame. One year, our district would only let us take a field trip within one mile of the school! You can imagine our choices. We could take a walk to the lovely backyard garden of the lady who lived across the street from the school, take a 6 block bus ride to the public park or go even further to the town cemetery .9 miles away. How exciting. Later in my teaching career we took trips to the Children's Museum and the Zoo leaving the school in the morning and returning before bus pickup at the end of the day.
Now that our kids attend an international school, their field trips have become much more extravagant. On Sunday Leah and Jennifer will leave on a 6 day field trip to Florence, Italy. That's right, I said ITALY. They will first take a bus to Paris then board the night train to Florence arriving on Monday morning.

Here are a few facts about the trip:

• 125 kids are going on this trip.


• They first will ride on a bus, then a train and then finally walk 30 minutes with suitcases to their hotel.


• Breakfast and dinner are covered in the trip but lunch must be paid for by the kids at any location they wish.


• Besides lunch and souvenirs, we will pay nothing for the trip. It is part of their tuition.


• Absolutely no parents are going on the trip. It is chaperoned by teachers and support staff only.


• The students have been studying everything to do with the Renaissance period in history.


• Each child has been assigned a location, monument or church in Florence to research. When they arrive at the location, they will give their report and findings to the other students. Rumor has it that complete strangers and other tourists listen to the speeches and sometimes applaud or ask questions about the information.


• No student is allowed to bring a cell phone. Emergency communication can be made with the students/teachers via the school secretary who talks to the group twice a day.


• Updates will be posted daily on the school website with pictures and reports of the kids' activities.

It will be hard to say goodbye to Leah and Jennifer on Sunday. Bob leaves on Monday for South America so it will just be Maria and me for the entire week.