Field trip exhaustion

Today, we went on a field trip.   A walking field trip, to be exact.  The Math & Science Center in town just moved to a new (and much, much better) location, which is within walking distance of my school.

The visit itself was amazing.  We all had tons of fun exploring and learning about science.  It was the walk that was exhausting.  And I don’t mean physical exhaustion.  Exhaustion that stems from getting 52 third- and fourth-graders to walk over a mile to the center and over a mile back.  Exhaustion that comes from simultaneously sounding like a cheerleader and a drill sergeant.  Exhaustion that comes from having a time deadline on either end, getting there and coming back, and watching the minutes pass as we hurried down the sidewalk.

However, there was also a lot of reward that accompanied the exhaustion.  The reward of being outside walking in the sunshine for over an hour.  The reward of helping kids work through the engineering design process to create a contraption to launch a ball of tape.  The reward of exploring the world of science with my students.

All in all, it was an exhausting day.

But it was definitely a rewarding one as well.

I am participating in the Slice of Life challenge to write and publish a post each day in March.   Thanks to Two Writing Teachers for creating a place for writers to share their work all month long and hosting the March Slice of Life Story Challenge!