Learning By Going (05-19-08)

Last week, I wrote about all the places our K-8 kids have gone through various exchange programs. In fact, we have gone to so many places, and learned so much about the places we’ve contacted, that our school won the Kansas In The World award for International Education. This award validates that our kids learn about a lot of places…probably more places than any K-8 school in Kansas.

This week, I also want to write about the places our kids have gone, but this time I want to write about the places they’ve actually gone to in person. Yes, I’m talking about good, old-fashioned field trips. No computer simulations, no exchange of information through the mail, nothing virtual or contrived, nothing read about or seen through pictures, video, or multi-media presentation.

This week, I’m writing about packing a lunch, getting on a bus and going somewhere either near or far, both to learn and to enjoy.

As the year raced to a close, I’d had the pleasure to accompany the kids on two field trips. First, I joined the 5-8 students on their annual fun day. This year, we chose for the kids to both swim and bowl in Colby.

Now, at first glace, this excursion might seem to be entirely in the “recreation” category of field trips. Yes, I admit, that the kids and the accompanying staff had a good time. The boys and girls were kept separate, with the girls bowling while the boys swam and visa-versa in the afternoon.

But the two groups joined for a long lunch break of sack lunches eaten at a local park. And this is where the field trip switched to being more about learning. You see, we work pretty hard at LMS to keep the different grades somewhat separate. From the placement of the lockers to the positioning of classes through the day to when students are dismissed to and from lunch, everything is geared to keep the fifth grade from mixing with the eight grade and the seventh from mingling with the sixth and every combination therein.

For one day, though, we trusted the kids to get along. The boys had to get along with the boys, of all ages, and the girls had to get along with the girls no matter the grade level. And at lunch, everyone had to get along with everyone else.

I am proud to report that the students rose to the challenge. All day, I watched students of different grade levels intermix appropriately. I watched kids help each other in the pool, at the bowling alley, and in the park. They shared food, they congratulated and cheered each other on, and most importantly, they played nicely together, all day.

With all the emphasis that our current educational environment places on test scores and academic achievement, it is nice to see that the ability to simply get along through unstructured play still exists within our kids. With all the warnings and worry about bullying, our kids showed they have learned to get along and respect each other without resorting to violence or coercion.

Even if for just one day, it was a wonderful lesson to behold.

I also accompanied the second grade as they loaded up in the Ringneck Bus and headed to the Rolling Hill Animal Reserve. After a two and half hour bus trip, they toured both the zoo and museum. This was the field trip of field trips, immersing our kids in knowledge and experiences that they couldn’t get in Hill City. They read and shared information about a wide variety of animals and they saw things that they will never forget.

Lunch, conversely, was the entertaining part of the trip, and it was wonderful to see our second grade students on their best behavior as they ate at a picnic area we shared with other school children. I heard not a single argument nor witnessed any bad behavior. Compared with the other school children, some of who were not very well behaved, I was immensely proud of our kids, our teachers, our school and our town.

So both field trips went off without a hitch. While we aren’t going to administer rigorous assessments to pinpoint exactly what standards the students may or may not have mastered as a result of these excursions, I can tell you this. I sure learned a lot about the quality of character of our students. If these field trips are any indication, we all have much to be thankful for, and much of which to be proud.