Leaving for Learning on Field Trips

With the return of favourable weather and an eye to the remaining months of the school year, our fleet of yellow chariots will soon take our students to all sorts of unique places. Although these are memorable excursions, there is more than memory making going on. Consider:

God formed sky, land, and sea;
stars above, moon and sun,
making a world of colour, beauty, and variety—
a fitting home for plants and animals, and us—
a place to work and play,
worship and wonder,
love and laugh. Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony

Class trips happen throughout the entire year, from JK through grade 8. The length, educational focus, and structure of the trips is always different, but one thing remains the same. Why does LCES send students on class trips? I can think of several reasons:

1. These experiences help our students to see God’s world as a place of beauty and offer experiences to develop wonder and praise for an amazing world of people and places.
2. Taking the classroom on the road creates invaluable “touchstone” moments for our students to connect previous learning or prepare working examples for future learning as they see God’s world as a connected, purposeful, and intricate place prepared for his children.
3. Students see their teacher, classmates, and even parents in a different way as they respond to different topics and ways of learning. They understand each other’s interests, passions, and talents more fully. We build community when we become a community in a different place.
4. Students can see the world in its brokenness, and yet see hope in the ways they can be involved in redeeming it.

Taking the classroom on road is part of the bold assertion that indeed, Our World Belongs to God!
SJ