First Grade Field Trip Frenzy!

And now, A Post Featuring our Son:

Larry's first grade class has been busy... very busy... enjoying events and field trips this year.  Their class has had three field trips in the past three months! Talk about a good time!! I got to go on two of them with him and had an exhausting, but good time :)

The December field trip was a trip up to Ohlone Community College to see the play "The Shoemaker and the Elves." That happened while Jon and I were on the cruise, so I couldn't go along... sad day...

But then, in January, all the first and second grade classes at Lincoln went to see the San Francisco symphony in a program called "Play me a Story." The program itself was incredible! The symphony sounded so so so beautiful! 

I'm not entirely convinced the kids enjoyed it as much as I did... in fact, by the end of the program, several of the kids on my row were fast asleep... can't really blame them; the journey to get to the concert hall was a little insane. We left first thing in the morning once school started, loaded up in parent cars, drove to the BART station, rode BART into San Francisco, had to wait at the station for 20 minutes since not everyone in the class got on the first train, then walked 3/4 mile to a park, ate lunch, then waited in line for another 20 minutes or so to get into the building... we all may have experienced some sour grapes as we watched the private school charter buses pull right up to the curb and drop off their students... grr... 

Even so, I think the trip was worth it for the exposure to such amazing professional musicians! The kids enjoyed hearing different instruments sound like animals (from Peter and the Wolf), like toys (a doll and a bouncing ball), and ride along with the "Flight of the Bumblebee." The concert hall was packed with kids from all over the Bay Area. 

It was a little nerve-racking to travel in and out of the BART stations with so many little kids, but the day proceeded without incident and I even got back right on time to pick up Jade and Xochitl from my friend's house before school got out!

The February field trip took us much closer to home (thank goodness!). We went to Tule Ponds in Fremont to enjoy a day learning about nature! We started the field trip with lunch by the pond and then went into the visitor's center for a presentation and hands-on  learning.

The kids got to see two monarch butterflies emerge from their cocoons and be released out the window! That was pretty cool! Larry insisted on wearing his "Safari Vest" that he got for his birthday from Nana and Papa. It was the perfect getup for the day and he used his magnifying glass on almost everything!

 Outside, the naturalist showed the kids many interesting things, including Tule reeds, a beehive in a hollow tree, a raccoon den, a skunk den, and bird and squirrel nests.

All the kids were captivated, excited learners, even if they were a little rambunctious by the end of the day.  We were a little late getting back from the trip; we were parking at the school just as the bell rang.  It was a little stressful getting the six first-graders I had taken in Eva, all carrying their own booster seats, to walk through the parking lot with parents pulling in and out... all well... the important thing is that they all got to make their Elder wood necklaces.

At another totally unrelated Lincoln event, the Health and Resource Fair, Larry got to meet a real Newark police officer and explore the police car! The police officer was very lovely.  Larry was excited to meet her because, as he adamantly declared in his "What I want to be when I grow up" paragraph, he wants to be a police officer and marry a lady police officer...and ride a motorcycle. Time will tell if any or all of those things happen...

So, all in all, first grade at Lincoln has been very good to Larry.  When asked, he might tell you he'd rather stay in first grade next year than proceed to the second... Sorry, Buddy, I don't think first grade would be nearly as fun the second time around...