Sunday, October 23, 2011

Pumpkin patch 2011

Thomas’ second class field trip was last week—a trip to the pumpkin patch on John’s Island.  So now, two months into school, he has already been on two more field trips than he ever had while at his previous preschool.  :)  He’s loving this part of his new school.  And, he gets to ride a school bus (even though it brings about a whole new level of anxiety for his mother…who has spent the last six years making sure her children are properly restrained in a car in the best carseats available!).

Last Tuesday it was a balmy 80-something degrees…so not the best weather for a fall day at the pumpkin patch, but we enjoyed it anyway.  I met his class there and it was fun to see the kiddos come off the bus.  Thomas’ class was wearing red shirts.  He’s toward the end of the line.

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Siblings were not allowed to come along, so thankfully Parker was able to go to a friend’s house and Thomas got my undivided attention.  He was happy about that. 

Here’s his class (you can click on it to make it larger)…

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First the children were instructed to head into the “patch” and find a pumpkin.  This was Thomas’ selection:

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Then we walked around and saw some animals in a small petting zoon (like rams, chickens, pigs, goats(?)).  I actually don’t remember what was there because I was a bit distracted.  Thomas was just not acting like himself.  I am not sure what it was, but he kept saying he wanted to go home.  I think it was hot and the gnats were bothering him, but it took him a little while to start enjoying himself.

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After that we jumped on a hayride and rode out to a pasture to feed the cows.  The cows were an eager bunch, but Thomas was pretty grossed out by their gnarly tongues and the fact that flies were all around them.  He definitely wanted to keep his distance.

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Nope, I think we can scratch “farmer” off the list of possible future professions.  He was much happier when he moved to the middle of the trailer and observed.

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After that, we returned to the main area and all the classes had a picnic lunch.  Then it was time to play in the playground.  That was RIGHT up Thomas’ alley and he perked up considerably.

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A few times Thomas has told me that his “best friend” in his class is one particular little girl.  This is the one below:

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And this little girl sits at his table (the desks in the classroom are grouped in fours (for the most part), so there are three other children next to Thomas).  She also lives across the street.

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There were lots of things to do on the playground in addition to the swings and slides.

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The best (as far as Thomas was concerned) was definitely saved for last.  There was a mini-maze of hay bales and he thought it was great.  He and some other children loved ducking between the bales and crawling on the ground to squeeze their way through small holes.  He has asked to go back several times.  By the way, that’s his teacher in the background in the picture below (and the girl running by also lives in our neighborhood…and she was in Thomas’ 4s class last year).

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It was a fun day at the pumpkin patch and I enjoyed spending time with Thomas and his class.  Now we’ve just got to get Parker to the pumpkin patch before Halloween arrives!

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