D's 1st grade zoo field trip

Every year the 1st grade class gets to go on a fall field trip to our local zoo. D was really bummed last year when she was in kindergarten that she couldn't go with big brother. I reminded her that she would get to go this year with her own friends. So the time came for the permission slips to come home for this year's trip and she insisted that I had to go with, like I wouldn't anyway. It turned out to be the perfect day for the trip. In October, you never really know what the weather will bring here in Northern Indiana. Last year for their trip to the pumpkin patch it was rainy, muddy, and bitter cold. As you can see from the pictures, some of the kids were wearing shorts!! Summer just didn't want to give up this year. D's teacher has not lived in this area for years now, and is finally back. Well she was unfamiliar with the changes to the zoo, so D, another mom, and I helped her out with our knowledge of the zoo. We have been here so many times over the years that we really have learned things that most people have not heard before. 

We started out by meeting up with the classes, and finding our children and their partner. Each buddy gets a clipboard, highlighter, and a sheet with different types of animals. They are to color in a square every time they see an animal.

Trying to get the class together for a picture.

Take number 2! Like a friend has said, "It's like herding cats!"

After the walk around the zoo, everyone heads to a large picnic shelter for a picnic lunch. After lunch, all the kids head over to a fenced in playground area. They were super lucky too, because when they got back to school they had the privilege of going to a bounce house party in the gym as a reward for the fundraising sale we had this year.