Sara Stadem | Editor
After a year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tri-Valley Elementary students are back at it getting to participate with their end of the year field trips.
Although some might not see any significance in skipping an end of the year field trip, there are educators that see the value to these field trips.
“Field trips provide an opportunity for a real-world learning experience that we can’t provide I the classroom,” said kindergarten teacher Mrs. Kayla Kaviland. She continued, “Many students might not get to experience these opportunities outside of school so it is extra fun and valuable for those students as well.”
Kaviland’s kindergarten class, along with the rest of the Tri-Valley kindergartners, got to experience the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls for their field trip.
Second grade teacher Mrs. Ruth-Ann Curriel explained their class went to DeSmet to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s homestead. She explained the value for her students was getting to experience a bus ride with all of their classmates and their teacher plus learn in a new setting about things from long ago.
Mrs. Curriel expressed that she knows the students from last year missed a valuable experience learning about Laura’s homestead. She also thinks students appreciate field trips more this year now that they had to be put on hold last year due to COVID-19.
When asked what she thinks students missed out on last year with no field trips, Mrs. Curriel said, “Field trips are such good learning experiences outside the classroom plus it is something to look forward to towards the end of the year.” She continued, “When I reminisce with students that I had in second grade from previous years, they almost always mention this field trip.”
Even though Mrs. Haviland’s kindergartners might not have understood what they missed out on the previous year, she still believes other students that don’t get to go on field trips miss out on real world learning and a fun school experience when field trips do not happen.
Mrs. Haviland expressed for the teachers that it was a great feeling of normalcy to be able to go on the field trip with their students and their students loved the trip. “Our students loved the field trip. Many of my students had never been to the Pavilion before so it was a great experience for them, too,” Mrs. Haviland said. She continued, “They were all excited that we got to go do that instead of have classes!”
Mrs. Curriel said, “As a second-grade teacher, I look forward to this field trip. It is a long bus ride—an hour and a half one way. The students sometimes rest or visit with each other when on the bus. It is very engaging and each student gets to bring home a weaved rope and a corn cob doll or a super hero that they help make.”
Mrs. Curriel also explained during their field trips, students get to grind wheat into flour, shell corn and twist hay. In addition to that, the classes get a covered wagon ride and each student gets to hold the lines and drive the horses to the schoolhouse. At the schoolhouse, they recite poems, see original chalkboards, a tattered flag that has 48 stars and sit in desks that are very old. “We also make butter from cream and tour a sod house. So much learning is going on and the staff at the homestead are always eager to accommodate us,” Mrs. Curriel said.
When asked what her students thought of the field trip, Mrs. Curriel said, “They loved it. It is the best hands on, movement and tiring field trip I have been on but so worth it. The one student said, “This was the best field trip I have ever been on.”