Gold Rush

Sweet Pea and Little Man's class took a field trip to a gold mine last week, and they were thrilled that I chaperoned. (No, seriously. They still love to see me at school and have me participate in events, so I'll take it as long as I can get it.) For the record, this is the first field trip they've taken since Covid. Cheers to getting back to normal!

We went to a gold mine, and learned a lot about the way miners used to live, the dangers associated with the work, and the science behind extracting gold from the ground. We panned for gold, and several kids in their class found real gold flakes! But not Sweet Pea or Little Man, unfortunately -- they were pretty disappointed.

For the record, IT WAS COLD. For real. It was in the 20's, and we were outside playing in the water. The kids were borderline refusing to participate in the panning. Little Man was getting teary, begging for me to take him back to school (and those words have literally never come out of his mouth). I helped most of the kids with their pans, and I couldn't feel my fingers anymore after a few minutes.

But then we toured the underground mine, and it was actually much warmer than outside. Whew! The guides were very knowledgeable and interesting, and the kids were uncharacteristically quiet as they learned how gold was mined. 

Our school isn't quite back to pre-Covid levels of field trips, but I'm hopeful it won't be long. This is the 4th grade's only field trip this year, but at least it was a good one!