Equilibrium

Today, we went on the greatest field trip I have ever had the chance to participate in! It's strange enough that we had two field trips scheduled in the same week, but it's even more odd that they would end up being two totally opposite experiences. I guess this was the universe's way of making up for the living hell we experienced on Tuesday?? Anyhow, our kids got to run a mock town for the day, and it was such an incredible thing to watch. For the past month and a half, we (all the 5th grade teachers) taught the kids lessons on business and money management, and they all applied and interviewed for various jobs within the town. It was a tremendous amount of work for us, and there were a lot of kinks to work out (it's a brand-new program-- the place has only been open a week!), but it was all worth it! Here are a few pics of our fabulous experience (I blurred out all the kids' faces, just to be safe):

• Picture #1: View from the second story of the "mall"... you can see a Public Works project underway!
  
• Picture #2: Some of our distinguished lawyers hard at work
  
• Picture #3: The staff at Jack-in-the-Box prepares for a busy day

The place, which is run by our regional Junior Achievement program, has already been getting a lot of local press coverage. There were even more members of the press there today (I got interviewed for our local newspaper, hooray!). Our school was one of only a handful of pilot schools, which meant that we got to go for free (the actual value of the experience is about $50 per kid-- but they plan to subsidize a lot of the costs through donations. Next year, they will charge $18 per student).

Anyway, I guess I am just syaing that this field trip kicked butt. I am completely exhausted, but it definitely made up for the horror that was Tuesday's trip (*cringe*). :)