Tale of Two Buses

Thursday, Oct. 1 was a hard classroom management day. At 7:15 in the evening the seniors and juniors were leaving on overnight trips and they were squirrelly just biding their time in school until they could board the buses. For the seniors I learned a long time ago not to plan anything too strenuous for this day. They will fight it and we are all unhappy. So I gave them a comparison chart and 95 stickers to put on it. They worked in groups and helped each other compare different aspects of English literature and history. One of them said "You're a smart teacher not to make us try and learn today." I just smiled because as they applied their stickers they were arguing about where the stickers went and saying "no, wait remember..." - Ha, I love it when I trick them into working!

At 7:15 I was back up at the school to see the seniors off- it's tradition. I always go wave goodbye as they leave for 7 days in Rome and I have a 7 day break from teaching. This year there are 76 students and 12 adults on the trip. It takes 2 tour buses to get everyone around. So imagine 88 pieces of luggage and then drinks and snacks to feed all those people for 7 days. That is what we had to load on the bus. The kids had an informational meeting and then they were sent to the bathroom since the bus will only stop every 2 hours. They were divided into teams for the week - 1 adult with 8 students. They don't have to stay together for the week but this method is a fast way of doing attendance when we need to move to a new spot. The kids find their adult and report in and then the adults report in to the trip organizer. In less than a 5 minutes we can check if all 88 people are where they need to be.

There were a lot of "I wish you were comings" as the kids finally got on the bus. Their trip will be 9 hours on the bus - Kandern to Florence. They drive through the night and arrive in Florence at 6:30 in the morning. Then they pull out the breakfast items which were the last to be packed the night before. Then they get ready for a week of fun and bonding. They will spend the day in Florence and then drive to Rome where they will stay put until it is time to start home. Then they will drive from Rome to Venice, spend a day in Venice and then drive to Kandern.

The seniors pulled out at 9:15. As their bus left the parking lot, the juniors were arriving and tossing their sleeping bags and backpacks in piles by another bus. They are heading to Normandy and Paris for the weekend. Their short trip takes them to the beaches of Normandy where they will study the D-Day landings and learn more about that time in history. They will drive all night as well and wake up in Normandy. They will stop for a partial day in Paris on the way home.

We are blessed to live in such a central location. The area around us is rich in history and culture.