Maria's Outdoor Education

For the last two and a half days, Maria has been away on a trip with her entire 6th grade class. They call it "Outdoor Education," and they bus all 72 6th graders (and their teachers, bless them) two hours north to "Nature's Classroom," a place north of Mansfield that specializes in running short programs for this age of children. I've heard about Outdoor Education for years - as a 9th grade teacher, I have heard many stories that start "Remember in 6th grade at Outdoor Education..." I also know the 6th grade teachers consider it a great program and actually enjoy going, and feel that it really allows them to bond with their students.

For a lot of kids, it's their first time away from home in a situation like this. Not for Maria, who has braved two years of 4-H camp, so at least I didn't have that to worry about. And they slept indoors this time, which is a huge improvement over the 4-H camp cabins.

The kids were supposed to leave on Wednesday morning, and return at 2:00 Friday afternoon. But there were some storms in that area Tuesday night, and as the kids were loading the bus, the school received a phone call that the camp had no electricity and the kids could not arrive until power was restored. So the kids went to their classrooms and waited. They watched movies, played games, and waited (I was so thankful I was not one of those teachers!). They had lunch and recess, and then around noon finally heard that power was restored and they could leave for camp. Then they decided to inform the parents. I had heard at lunch that they had not been able to go (I was surprised I hadn't heard yet - Ben and I are under the same roof as Maria all day), and was really hoping they wouldn't have to cancel the trip. Unfortunately, because the school buses had to run their afternoon routes, they weren't able to take the kids to camp until 5:00, but at least they got to go. I did run down to see how Maria was holding up before I left school that day, and she was fine.

So they were off, and in the last two days I did hear a couple of updates from teachers who went but didn't spend the night. It didn't hurt that Maria has charmed her teachers (we've heard, unsolicited, from two of the three teachers about how great Maria is, how she is so polite and positive and what a good student she is) so these teachers volunteer information to me when I pass them in the hall. And although we missed her at home, I was never worried about her. Curious, but not worried.

Maria (and the rest of the kids) returned this afternoon, tired and slightly sunburned but in good spirits and full of stories. I was so glad they had perfect weather - highs in the mid-70's and no rain. She had a rough time with the flash on her disposable camera (the only kind they were supposed to take), so she's a little disappointed although she still had several good pictures of the outdoors. And I'm sure she has some memories that will last a lifetime.