Today, I had the opportunity to accompany a fine group of four and five year olds on their spring field trip. We were told that the kids were going to be scientists at the Bucknell Greenhouse today, and that they could even use magnifying glasses to get a good look at any of the plants there. Let's just say, Mrs. Deitrick had Joshua at "scientists" on this one. He spent the better part of ten minutes this morning looking for a miniature magnifying glass that he got in a Happy Meal or something (to give you an idea of the high value piece we were searching for). He was upset when he couldn't locate it. (This may or may not have been one of the hundred or so pieces of junk that I put into the trash a few weeks ago. But I surely wasn't going to fess up to that.)
Observation #1: Mrs. Deitrick is a smart teacher who has dealt with preschoolers long enough to know that you don't bring up something like a magnifying glass to the kids without a solid knowledge that you are going to provide one for them on the off chance that one of their mothers might have tossed theirs in a fit of "I-can't-take-another-minute-of-looking-at-all-of-this-random-junk". Joshua greatly enjoyed using his new red junky magnifying glass to study the plants.
Observation #2: It always rains for Joshua's field trips. Why is this?
Observation #3: To the kids (and maybe to me too) all of the plants look alike. After we had seen 30 varieties of cactus (cacti? cactuses? Mom, help me out here.) in the 97 humid degrees, we'd all had just about enough. Sadly, that was the first 10 minutes of our hour tour. They did, however, enjoy the venus fly traps. This group of heads was the entire class watching while it closed up on the tour guide.
Observation #4: Anything that involves playing in water will appeal to the kids. In fact, the wetter they can get, the happier they will be. This was some kind of water fern. The mud puddles outside were just as popular.
Observation #5: We all planted our own jade tree to bring home. After last year's pumpkin experience, I was just pleased that it wasn't a pumpkin. I learned that I am to water this little pot only once per month at the most and that in about 20 years, it will still be growing. Yeah right.
Observation #6: The students on Bucknell's campus dress up to go to class. Like we're talking short skirts and ties. Why would they do this? While I don't feel like it has been that long since I was in college (ahem....twelve years isn't that long is it?) I saw a great disparity between the life of college students about to enter finals week and my life as a mini-van driving Mom with three car seats in the back. Interestingly enough, I was totally OK with my life. But those girls were in dresses and skirts, and I was rocking my jeans.
Observation #7: Just for fun, here is the happy baby I came home to. And Lauren's curly head came running as soon as we walked in the door, proclaiming how she missed me so much. That was awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment