Pumpkin Patch

On Thursday I got to accompany Ellie's class on their field trip to the pumpkin patch on a farm near Shaker Town in Mercer County. The day was beautiful and perfect for a day on the farm! The kids got to explore a maze made out of hay bales, pet and feed animals, and take a hay rack ride down to the pumpkin field (through the horse pasture where they got to see some horses up close). An unexpected benefit was learning during the waiting times (or on the hayride) some of the teaching tools her teachers use in the class that we are now doing with Ellie at home (e.g. they do some really fun signs to practice phonics).

Ellie is with her special ed teacher, Miss Tammy (who also heralds from a farm in the midwest -- so she's cool by me)

Ellie was enthralled with the rooster (see how she's holding her hands? she didn't want anything to do with actually petting the animals)

waiting for the ride to begin

If you ask me, these pumpkins suspiciously appear to be placed for easy finding by the kids. Given that it was the day befor Halloween, I'm sure their fields were pretty picked over by then.

The kids were warned more than once that the teachers would NOT carry their pumkins for them, therefore they were to only select a gourd that would fit in their backpacks (theirs are in the plastic sacks you see them holding). Ellie is guarding the classroom pumkin.