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SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS
Weekday mornings, September 28 through October 29, 1999 For preschool through third grade (older grades welcome; ask us) |
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Teachers, we'd love to have your class! We started field trips in 1995 with one kindergarten class from town, and last fall sixty-one classes came out to the farm. Most of the children who visit have never been on a working farm, and a lot of them have never seen where a pumpkin comes from. By the time they get back on the bus they know, and each one is carrying the pumpkin to prove it. We take up to three classes a morning, so every class gets its own wagon and its own time in the barn. Trips start at 9:00 or 9:30 and last about two hours. |
 WHAT THE KIDS DO |
| IN THE BARN 15 minutes |
Randy or Margo shows the class an ear of corn, a soybean plant and a pumpkin vine, and tells how they grow from one seed. Every child gets to hold the ear of corn and count the rows. (Here's something to tell them on the bus: an ear of corn always has an even number of rows.) We talk about where the corn and beans go after harvest: to feed cattle and hogs, into cornstarch and corn syrup and cooking oil, and even into the ink some newspapers are printed with. |
| HAYRIDE TO THE PATCH 30 minutes |
The wagon goes out past the soybean field to the pumpkin patch, where every child picks a pumpkin to take home. The rule is: you have to be able to carry it yourself, all the way back to the wagon. If we're harvesting that day, the class gets to watch the combine from a safe distance, and that is usually the part they talk about. |
| THE LITTLE MAZE 20 minutes |
Next to the big maze is a one-acre maze just their size, with short paths, wide corners and a scarecrow at every dead end. Each class goes through together with its teacher. |
| THE BARNYARD 20 minutes |
Feeding the goats, the sheep and the chickens (feed is included), meeting the Jersey calf and the potbellied pig, and washing hands at the hand-washing station afterward. |
| SNACK 15 minutes |
A cup of cider and a little bag of Margo's kettle corn at the picnic tables. If your class brings sack lunches, you're welcome to stay and eat. |
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$5 PER CHILD Everything above is included: the barn talk, the hayride, a pumpkin to take home, the Little Maze, the barnyard and the snack. Teachers, aides and bus drivers are free. Please bring one grown-up for every eight children; chaperones are free too. Fifteen children minimum. One check from the school on the day of the trip, please. |
| BOOKING YOUR TRIP |
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Call us at (555) 555-0190 or e-mail [email protected] with:
We'll write back with your date and time, and mail you a teacher's packet: a coloring sheet of a corn plant, a pumpkin growing chart for your bulletin board, a map of the farm and a note to send home to parents. Mornings still open as of Sunday night, September 26:
Everything else in October has at least one class booked. If your date is taken by one class, it may still have room for yours, so ask. |
| GOOD TO KNOW |
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Dress for a farm. Old shoes, and a jacket on a cool morning. It can be 40 degrees when the bus leaves school and 70 by snack time. Name the pumpkins. We give the teacher a marker. Write each child's name on the bottom of their pumpkin before it goes on the bus, and you'll save yourself a lot of tears at the other end. Tell us about allergies when you book, especially bee stings. There are always a few bees around the cider on a warm morning. Rain. A light rain doesn't stop us; the wagons have tarps. If it's pouring, or there's lightning, we'll call the school by 7 a.m. and either move you to another morning or do the barn talk, the pumpkins and the snack under the barn roof. Your choice. Restrooms: portable toilets and a hand-washing station by the parking area. There's room for buses to turn around in the barnyard. |