Kindergarten Field Trip to the Library

In years past the Kindergarten classes have visited the zoo. I’ll let that idea sit for a minute. I’ll wait. Ready? The zoo. 70-80 kindergartners. 3 teachers. 2 aides. About 1 parent per every two children all walking around the Maryland_Zoo_in_Baltimore in the heat of May for about 4 hours. It was as bad as it sounds.

Oh, the kids loved every minute of it. Animals of every color and species. Lots of space to run about. Getting to ride a school bus somewhere other than school. For parents the trip was a nailbiter. You had to keep track of your two kids, mediate between the two kids about what animals to see, and tote around lunchboxes and coats and the map. In short, I was drenched with sweat at the end of the day. No not perspiration, sweat. I was exhausted.

This year’s kindergarten team had the right idea…keep the field trip simple. KFTS. I know not a very good acronym, but the field trip of choice is a good one: a visit to our local library.

As a family we know this library well. My children and I watched it being built. My son and I spent 30 minutes watching some sort of machine pour tar on the road while a roller smushed down the tarmac. Cool.

Once we arrived at the library the entire kindergarten team gathered for an overview of the library. What is a librarian? How do you behave in the library? If you need to find a book, who do you ask?

The kindergartners were divided in to three groups. Each group member wore a star necklace: my son’s group was purple. The groups rotated through three areas: the children’s section, the office/book processing area, and storytime with a librarian.

Highlight of the trip for the kids: Waiting for the DVDs to be dropped into the outside drop box. Wondering what people thought about the raucous laughter coming from within the library as they put their books and DVDs through the slot.