First field trip

Oh what an experience....I had NO idea what to expect but everything actually turned out to be really fun. Definitely very different than any field trip that I've gone on in the states. So we headed to Izalco Sugar Mill this morning around 8am. This country is so small that these kids rarely have to drive more than 45 minutes anywhere so for them an hour long bus ride was the end of the world! We boarded the bus and had the hour trip to the mill. A couple of the kids asked me where the security was because I think they were concerned but we had security in front of and behind the bus so we were just fine.

We got to the sugar mill and they had huge muffins and pop for the kids. Great, load them up on sugar right away :) Next, we listened to a presentation about the process of sugar and how it is produced. It was interactive, fun and the kids seemed to somewhat enjoy it. After the presentation it was time to go see the mill. Keep in mind, our school is up in the hills a little bit so it is a bit cooler up here but we were down in the sweltering area, VERY hot. So it was around 11am when we headed into the mill. We had to put on our hard hats, goggles, and masks before we could go in.


My group inside the mill.

Walking in you are blasted with a wave of heat. We went upstairs and downstairs and were VERY close to very quickly spinning machines that were very sharp and sparks flying near us. NEVER in the states would students and people be able to be this close to the machines but we just carried right along.


Another picture of the group inside the mill.

After our tour that lasted about 20 minutes, we had sweated enough so walked over to the big barn that had huge piles of sugar inside. The kids could take a small cube with them and they had fun playing around with it and trying it.



Most of my class (minus a few) in front of all of the sugar.

After the tour we went back and ate lunch, played games we had brought under a pavilion until it was time to go. The kids behaved very well for the most part and had a really good time. Before we got back on the bus, they gave the kids some more sugar in the form of popsicles so it was a very exciting bus ride home. They also gave each of us a really nice water bottle as a souvenir. I was in charge of controlling the back of the bus on the way home where all of the "popular" kids sat. 5th graders are so funny. They would just shout out a girls first name with a boys last name and then everybody would laugh. Then the boys would respond with a name too. They would get so embarrassed and laugh and clap at each other. They also decided that B-I-N-G-O was going to be their favorite song. We heard that probably 15 times on the way home. Overall, it was a great trip and the kids had lots of fun. Tomorrow is just a half day and then the weekend. We have a half day because this weekend is the PTA Turno which is a huge carnival that the PTA runs but it goes on right outside my classroom on the main field of the lower school so the kids will have zero focus tomorrow. Well that's all I got. Hope everyone is having a great week! Love you all!