Prosaic Poppy 2005-2006

Field Trip 2005

On Wednesday I chaperoned a field trip to the zoo with Abi's 2nd grade class. I was assigned four girls, including Abi. They were good, I had no problems with them at all, however I find that I generally do not have any conflicts with the children when I have chaperoned in the past for my kids' field trips. I get along with them quite well.

Our task for the day [because when it is a school field trip we need to focus on something academic these days] was to look at the amphibians and reptiles. So, we did. In fact a good portion of our time was spent looking at frogs, snakes, crocodiles and turtles. It was a good time. Unfortunately the photos of said creatures did not turn out [because the majority of them were behind glass]. And I didn't get a chance to take any photos in the rain forest; we were too busy being excited about finding actual poison dart frogs hiding on the leaves and in the nooks of the trees. We could have actually touched these frogs...and the girls were a little worried that they would be attacked. But I assured them that the frogs were more scared of them than vice versa.

I'm not a big fan of frogs, so it took some mettle on my part to remain calm and not freak out myself being less than a foot away from one that could actually poison me. [I won't even go into the fact that KASSI entered a room that was inhabited by frogs--not in glass cases--WHAT was I thinking?--ok it was for the sake of education...and my daughter's fragile reputation]

I will admit that some of them were very cool, with all of their wild colors.

Afterwards [after escaping the freaky frog room of doom] the kids were divided on what they wanted to see with the limited time we had left. And the Detroit Zoo is fairly large. So we chose to check out the lions and tigers, and then see the polar bears. [Oh MY] The lions were disappointing, sleeping as usual. However the tigers were awake and moving around. One stayed still long enough to pose for a photo shoot.




The other thing that took me by surprise was to see the hippo grazing...and out of the water. I have never seen that before. It was huge, and made me reaffirm that I should watch what I eat.




After all of our walking we decided to skip the bears and head to the play area [a.k.a. SHADE]...where the kids could act like monkeys, or frogs or whatever else they wanted--and I could SIT.

I am always happy to be able to accompany my children on their field trips for school. And I think that they like me to be there; Abi held my hand most of the day. I think it is important as a parent to take part in at least some of these events. Even if you can't make all of them...at least one a year [per child] is okay.

I am not sure that I have the stamina to do it all the time though, I quite literally fell asleep on the bus ride home.

Thankfully no one put bubblegum in my hair...

posted by Kassi Gilbert @ 11:56 AM