Friday, October 21, 2005
Pumpkin Patch Field Trip
I joined Phil's class this morning on a joint Kindergarten/First Grade invasion of Detering's Orchards in Harrisburg. Our mission: remove produce from the apple orchard and pumpkin patch, then eat lunch. I'll let you know ahead of time, we completed all our major objectives.
When we arrived at the apple orchard, we got a quick debriefing on how apples are grown (nature) and why a lot of these apples had unsightly brown spots on them (hail damage). It takes 60 leaves on a tree to grow an apple and each tree has 1,500 leaves. They didn't make us solve the obvious word problem (25 apples per tree, which seems low despite checking my math twice; maybe I misheard the number of leaves). After learning (or not) about apples came the apple sampling. Objective One complete.
So well all got back on the bus. Who should we spy (with our little eyes) out the window? It's Jackson and Lauren from church (and their moms, plus Jackson's little sister) who came with a group from Willamette Christian School.
We got to the pumpkin patch where the kids leant a hand with the Great Pumpkin Heist 2005 (the heist was great, we didn't kidnap the Great Pumpkin who should be making his annual TV "appearance" in another week). Phil took a picture of Parker, another covert operative who had a similar photographic idea.
Oh, busted. Phil and Zyon got tossed in the pumpkin pokey. (detail of Phil's mugshot) Lax security gave the boys a chance to escape through the hay maze.
Lunch was a double top-secret catered affair with caviar and multi-grain toast points (or, if you brought your own, PB&J, coldcut sandwiches or Lunchables). No photography was allowed.
Before we left we took a few group pictures to commemorate our successful operation:On the way back to school we stopped for DQ ice cream sandwiches (courtesy Mrs. Swanson (K) & Mrs. Brockman (grade 1); thank you very much). When we got a mile or so away from school I led the kids in a rousing chant of "We're almost to school/We're almost to school" 'cause that's what ex-day camp counselors do.
If you enjoyed seeing this field trip half as much as we enjoyed being there (ooh, another math story problem), then we had twice as much fun as you. Neener neener.
When we arrived at the apple orchard, we got a quick debriefing on how apples are grown (nature) and why a lot of these apples had unsightly brown spots on them (hail damage). It takes 60 leaves on a tree to grow an apple and each tree has 1,500 leaves. They didn't make us solve the obvious word problem (25 apples per tree, which seems low despite checking my math twice; maybe I misheard the number of leaves). After learning (or not) about apples came the apple sampling. Objective One complete.
So well all got back on the bus. Who should we spy (with our little eyes) out the window? It's Jackson and Lauren from church (and their moms, plus Jackson's little sister) who came with a group from Willamette Christian School.
We got to the pumpkin patch where the kids leant a hand with the Great Pumpkin Heist 2005 (the heist was great, we didn't kidnap the Great Pumpkin who should be making his annual TV "appearance" in another week). Phil took a picture of Parker, another covert operative who had a similar photographic idea.
Oh, busted. Phil and Zyon got tossed in the pumpkin pokey. (detail of Phil's mugshot) Lax security gave the boys a chance to escape through the hay maze.
Lunch was a double top-secret catered affair with caviar and multi-grain toast points (or, if you brought your own, PB&J, coldcut sandwiches or Lunchables). No photography was allowed.
Before we left we took a few group pictures to commemorate our successful operation:On the way back to school we stopped for DQ ice cream sandwiches (courtesy Mrs. Swanson (K) & Mrs. Brockman (grade 1); thank you very much). When we got a mile or so away from school I led the kids in a rousing chant of "We're almost to school/We're almost to school" 'cause that's what ex-day camp counselors do.
If you enjoyed seeing this field trip half as much as we enjoyed being there (ooh, another math story problem), then we had twice as much fun as you. Neener neener.
Mikesell
