Field trip Tomorrow and That's all for 2 weeks!

This will be the last post. .. 

For two weeks. .. 

I just have to stay away because I have assessments, {and checking them, :( }, report cards, and just wrapping up the end of the year. 

So IF you see me here, or on FB, any games, or on Instagram, please gently sternly tell me to get back to work!

Let me fill you in a few things.

First, my mom hasn't been so well lately. I'm pretty worried about her and have spent the last two weekends with her and dad.  Mom had a rough winter and got pretty sick. She pulled through and is doing ok now. She can walk, cook, drive, etc. But she is slowing down and her kidneys are failing. I'm just not sure how long she'll be with us. She is 90, but until this winter acted like she was 60. 

Second, we are going on our field trip tomorrow. Not sure how your school works, but field trips were cancelled because of no money. But the trip we take doesn't cost the students anything. So our parent organization is paying for the bus mileage and driver fee. 

We are going to Lake Michigan. This is about an hour and a half drive. There is a State Park there with a nice big sand dune to climb. (gosh, I'd love to post pictures here tomorrow, but I really shouldn't. . . hmmmm. . .) 

The kids do not swim, but we do a lot of other things.  First of all, getting to see one of the Great Lakes is something many of our students have never done. And Secondly (didn't I say that already?) seeing a land form such as a sand dune is something they also haven't seen.

We will climb the hill and roll down in the sand. We'll take walks and explore or do scavenger hunts. We also fly kites and explore wind energy. The best part is exploring architecture! This is our way of saying we play in the sand. The kids try to build castles and other structures to see how stable they are. Does the wind knock them down, did a wave sabotage it?  How tall can you get it? Can you make a drip castle? {I'm justifying how play really does work into important skills for life!} How deep can you dig? Can you bury your friend except for their head?

I'm really excited to go on this trip. Almost every year we worry about the weather. But tomorrow the forecast is for sunny and about 68 degrees. However, it's always windy near the lake, so I know it will feel cooler! 

To make the bus ride seem not so bad, we prepare a clipboard for each seat on the bus. Two kids will share this clipboard.

 Each clipboard has two Tic Tac Toe and 

Dot to Dot games on it.

They also have a word search puzzle and 

two blank pages to draw on.

I grab some spares just in case!

This crate of books will be slid back and forth down the aisle so they can read books if they choose to.

All of these things help to pass the time on the bus ride. What do you do on your bus rides?

Ok, that's it. . . see you after June 13th! You know that I will miss you!

Patty