My favorite field trips in school include the farm in 3rd grade, camp at Catalina in 5th grade, outdoor ed. camp in 6th grade, Washington DC in 8th grade, Knott's Berry Farm for band in jr. high, and Six Flags for fall rally in high school. As a student, field trips were a day of fun. As a teacher, they are brief but coveted respites from hectic school days.
Today I took on the role of chaperone as ~40 of our high school seniors left the south Bronx to go apple picking. Yes, apple picking. Apparently it's an east coast thing...
While planning for the trip my students all decided that they did not want to pay more than $10 to go apple picking. Upon arrival at the orchard they were each given a bag with a carrying capacity of 6 decent sized apples (lame, i know). The orchard lady wanted to charge $20 each to get a larger bag... So, being the resourceful south Bronx youth that they are, my students brought out their backpacks, bags and big sweaters and picked all the apples they could carry. Ethical? Not so much. Funny? Entirely. Did I condone it? Let's just say the orchard isn't empty, so no big deal. As one can imagine plucking fruit from a tree isn't so easy for someone of my stature. Thankfully my students were generous enough to help a teacher out and I came home with half a bushel of hand picked apples.
The bus ride back was a trip down memory lane. I don't know how my students have become so educated in jams from my youth (and even before my time!) but they were belting out old songs like nobody's business. Some surprising serenades included: Too Close by Next, Candy Rain by Soul for Real, and my personal favorite Weak by SWV.
I enjoyed interacting with my students outside of school and seeing them in their own clothes (rather than in uniform). My students can totally be pains, but they really are sweethearts when it comes down to it.
group shot in the orchards
guess who wanted to take this picture :)
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