Civil Rights Institute

Today Grace and Lauren's class took a field trip to the Civil Rights Institute. They have been studying the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the civil rights movement and the Bill of Rights so this field trip is perfectly timed. 

Since middle school field trips are incredibly rare, I immediately offered to chaperone when the opportunity arose, much to the girls mortification. (It wasn't bad... I kept some distance.)

This was a cold, but beautiful late winter day, and getting out of the classroom to explore the movement was a great experience.  

UAB Blazer Basketball

George's class got to take a field trip to watch the UAB Women's Basketball team play.  

He was hoping to get interviewed again, but instead he happily cheered with the crowd. He and his buddies had a great time. 

George's Fine Arts Field Trip

George is having a wonderful year in second grade, but every now and then we really miss the girls being at the school with him. His school's Fine Arts Field Trip to the theatre to watch Polar Express was one of those days. The girls were pretty bummed to go face a regular school day and miss out on the trip.  

Since the girls went to the theatre a couple of times without George, we decided to make the most of the trip. Skip and I met up with George at the theatre and settled in for the movie. George sat with his best bud, and then we enjoyed the sing-along and watched the movie. 

Afterward, we checked George out, had some lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day. 

This is our favorite field trip of the year, and we are enjoying this Christmas season. 

Field Trip: American Village

This was the week for field trips. George had a wonderfully scheduled field trip this past Thursday. School was closed for professional development on Friday, and his Thursday trip created the feeling of a four day weekend - a total score.  What was less fortuitous was the 90% chance of rain that had been looming over the trip for about a week. 

There's no such thing as bad weather... only bad clothing. We embraced that motto, and wore water proof shoes, rain coats and carefully layered. We were totally fine. By the way, I highly recommend LL Bean's waterproof shoes.  

The field trip was to American Village for their Thanksgiving program, and 80% of the program was outdoors. We took a simulated Mayflower voyage, landed on Plymouth Rock, and negotiated with Native Americans.  The negotiations took place in the a huge field, and I kept waiting for the bottom to fall out, causing us to sprint back to shelter. Although that was the one time we experienced a steady rain, the rest of the time was just a solid drizzle and was completed tolerable. If anything, the rain added to the experience, at least for George.  

Besides, it's kind of hard to complain about a little rain while hearing about the hardships the pilgrims endured.  

George and I had a great time with his friends. The girls missed out on this field trip because we had snow flurries back when they were in second grade and scheduled for American Village. I definitely recommend AV, if you have not had a chance to see it, and we may go back with the girls.

Sloss Furnace and Vulcan Field Trip

Yesterday Lauren and Grace took their first middle school field trip. Having studied the Industrial Revolution, their teacher topped off the unit with a tour of Sloss Furnace and Vulcan. Because the duo are in separate classes, they were not assigned to the same field trip group, but they both came home with fantastic photos. 

Updated: We were supposed to have a school wide "family night" at Vulcan, but that had to be postponed due to rain. The duo had been excited to give us a tour.  

Fifth Grade Field Trips

Grace and Lauren have been having so much fun over the last few weeks. Their classes have had so many field trips, thanks to a grant for which their principal applied. Recently, their classes dressed up and went to see the symphony. The guys wore dress shirts and ties, and the girls wore dresses, jewelry and heels. They were such a great looking group, and they enjoyed the orchestra.  

The next field trip was a little more casual. They packed a lunch and went to see a college basketball game. This was timed right after the girls' basketball season ended, and they had so much fun seeing the college girls play.  

From week to week, they are having so much fun, and this is definitely going down as the best year ever.  

Field Trip: Next Levl

Last Thursday the Science Olympiad team had a field trip to Next Levl trampoline park. After many, many weeks of studying and experimenting, their coach decided they needed a break by doing something physical. Since it is one of their last field trips as a fifth grader, the duo asked if I would go with them, and I readily said yes. Yes, absolutely. There were two other moms there, and we were all a little bummed that our kiddos are headed to different places next year, meaning that we won't be hanging out as much in the future.

Instead of bemoaning that point, we decided to enjoy a day of bouncing, followed by a delicious Chick-Fil-A lunch. (Coincidentally, our school also had a spirit night fundraiser later that night at CFA.) After 2.5 hours of nonstop bouncing, they refueled and were ready to return to school.