Field Trip

Have you ever traveled via the subway with twenty-three, eight and nine year old children? If you have not, consider yourself lucky, and if you have...then well--you have my shared condolences.

Today my class embarked on a journey to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And, oh! What an eventful day it was. We walked to the subway and entered what could only be known as the most crowded subway train known to man My students decided that this might be a nice time to play a game that they frequently played on the monkey bars called, "Banana." (Not seeming to notice the hundreds of other people smushed into this one train car).

Banana is when you swing from monkey bar to monkey bar just "like a banana." (Only in this case, substitute monkey bar, for train pole). I watched as Sari and Hannah played handgames, over some poor gentleman who sat in between them. They leaned over the man, slapping hands, in his lap. I stood there, pretending that I did not know any of them. (Just kidding...sort of).

My students have no concept of other people's personal space, and that was made quite apparent to me when I got my feet STOMPED on...by not one, not two, not three... but four different kids who have no center of gravity and went flying every time the train stopped. (Note to self: Never again wear flip-flops while riding the subway with 23 eight and nine year olds).

The two most interesting and exciting discoveries of the day actually had very little to do with why we were visiting the Met in the first place. Out mission was to explore the Japanese samurai exhibit. (Japan is our unit of study in Social Studies). But, what my students found far more interesting than the ancient samurai swords and ninja masks, were the buttloads (excuse my pun) of naked statues throughout the museum. My students literally lost their eight year old minds. I overheard Zack, telling Jason--"I'm gonna make that woman my wife." (Referring to a statue of a naked woman). The statues of naked men were far more frequent throughout the museum, and each time seen, were met with chants of "Weiners, weiners, weiners!"

The next most important discovery of the day was that Adam (my five foot 2, 118 pound nine year old student) has armpit hair. (He wore a tanktop to school today showcasing this new growth). I must admit, that even I was a little startled by this discovery. Sure, Adam is a big kid--possibly the biggest third grader I've ever seen in real life, but still--a 3rd grader with armpit hair?!

My own armpit hair did not come until 6th grade, and when it did, you know that I felt like a real woman. (That is until my mom forced me to shave my armpits). Adam, who may actually be the coolest kid I have ever met, took all of this in stride. While his classmates poked and prodded at his armpits, telling him how disgusting his bush of armpit hair was, all Adam said in return was "Well, that's what happens when you're the oldest and the tallest in the class, you grow up a little bit sooner." Well said, Adam, well said.

And so, with our last big field trip of the year, now under our belts, I think that we all learned a valuable lesson; and that is: If you are on a subway car, and a large group of children enter, you may want to think about switching to a different car. Unless of course you are up for a good game of banana.