School Days: Field Trips

This week, some teachers and I took our classes on a field trip to see the symphony.

You've never seen children so excited to ride a bus.
Private school means no buses, which makes bus-riding a novel treat.

Of the varied field trips I've gone on as a teacher - science museum, nature center, the zoo, art museum, one-room school house, that alpaca farm once - the symphony is probably my favorite field trip.

Maybe I like that the students are easy to keep track of because they're all sitting down the whole time. But I think I love it because the music is so uplifting.  It's relaxing to sit and just...listen.

Unfortunately, a little boy from another school got sick in the middle of Bach's fugue and threw up over the balcony.  I felt terrible for him.  And for his teacher.  That's so embarrassing to get sick like that in such a public place.  And to miss the rest of the music, ah, my heart just went out to him.

On a gladder note, we heard the pipe organ played.  I don't know if I've ever heard a pipe organ like this in person.  We learned that it has over 5,000 pipes!  Some of them as small as your pinky finger, others taller than your house.  There's a whole room of pipes behind that wall.  The organist showed us by "walking inside of her instrument" through a little door and turning on the lights in that pipe room.  You can kind of see some on the pipes showing through the wall on the lefthand side of the organ.

When she played loudly on the last piece called "Organ Symphony", the sound of the organ filled the place.  It was magnificent.  My breath caught a little bit.

Do you have a favorite field trip you went on as a child?