I am so proud of our sixth graders. On the field trip to the National Mall, we led a group of them them on a six-mile walking adventure. After the buses dropped us off in front of the Natural History Museum, we met up with our parent chaperones and walked over to the Tidal Basin.
We did the full loop as we snapped pictures, posed with Eleanor Roosevelt, draped across George Mason, side-stepped blossom-admiring tourists, and learned a little history.
We had all the time in the world…until we didn’t. Time had melted away and left us with 20 minutes to walk all the way to the American Indian Museum to board the bus back to school. We speed-walked those little ducklings back around to the National Monument, all the way down the Mall, and around the corner to trusty bus 8 (labeled by yours truly with a sharpie and half a manila folder), boarding the bus just three minutes behind schedule.
Nobody got lost, dehydrated or injured. Nobody needed the meds I had packed in the drawstring bag hanging from my shoulder. Nobody was rude to a tourist or got glared at by passersby. While in the middle of it, my stress level was elevated, but in hindsight, it was a true joy. Three cheers for the sixth graders, the best of them all.
My Corner of the Village 