Our class will be taking the train to Sacramento for our 4th Grade Field Trip on Tuesday, April 20th. Here are the field trip basics:

Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Time: 6:45 AM – 6:15 PM

Donation: $25, which includes round-trip train fare to Sacramento, T-shirt and a day of engaging activities. Every child will go regardless of how much they pay.

Train Station Location: Fremont Amtrak Station, 37260 Fremont Boulevard, Fremont, CA 94536

Volunteers: Each class needs a minimum of 7 parent volunteers. The suggested donation for parents is also $25 (includes T-shirt)

Meals: You need to eat breakfast before you come and bring a morning snack.  You also need to bring a sack lunch and an afternoon snack. There are snacks on the train and in Sacramento, bring $$ if you would like to buy something.

Download this flyer and this permission slip for more information. Also, stay tuned for more information about the field trip.

Below are some things reflections from our field trip to the Fremont Transfer Station. Learn more about this facility and the 4 Rs at www.stopwaste.org

Things we learned on our field trip:

• How to recycle things like bottles and cans.
• What to put into the green bin and what not to put in the green bin.
• How bottles get crushed and made into new bottles.
• Rot involves F.B.I. (Fungi, Bacteria, Invertebrates)
• FBI can make compost in about two months.
• How to sort out cans, bottles, glass, and plastic.
• Aluminum comes from bauxite.
• The M.R.F. (Material Recovery Facility)
• Glass is made out of sand.
• Plastic is made out of crude oil.
• The four R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot.
• Our trash goes into the landfill in Fremont. This Fremont landfill is almost full. At the end of the summer, our trash will now go to a landfill in Livermore.

Why is this important? Why should we care?

• We can help the earth and this is our home.
• We need to take care of it.
• We need to help the environment so we don’t die.
• We need to recycle so our earth does not become a giant landfill.

Download these notes here.

SACRAMENTO FIELD TRIP

 Download a colorful PDF version of this information.

The good news is that we have 42 people coming on our trip.  That means we have 14 adults helping chaperone our kids.  This is very impressive!!!

Thanks to the Narayan family for providing our class with T-shirts for our trip and helping purchase our group train and museum tickets!

BASIC SCHEDULE

6:45 – 9:40 AM 

Ride Amtrak to Sacramento.  

DO NOT BE LATE.  ARRIVE AT 6:45 TO FREMONT TRAIN STATION.

10:30 – 11:30 AM

Tour of the State Capitol.  This tour will last about 45 minutes. Half of our group will start the tour at 10:30 and half our group will start at 11:00.

11:30 – 12:00 

Lunch (Please bring a lunch with you, because of the 3-day weekend and our early leaving time, we can not provide a school lunch.)

12:00 – 1:30

Explore “Old Sacramento” and complete scavenger hunt.  Small groups will visit the California State Railroad Museum.

1:30 – 3:00  

Gold Rush Program at the Sacramento History Museum  We will participate in this hour and a half program as a whole group. 

“How did one man’s dream of creating his own empire lead to on of the world’s greatest human migrations in history?  Explore these questions and more as students learn about the story of the California Gold Rush of 1849.  In addition, every student will try to make their own fortune as they pan for gold and other treasures.”

3:00 PM

Walk to Amtrak Train Station

3:30 – 6:10 PM

Ride Amtrak back to Fremont.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

It will be HOT!  According to the weather forecast it will be 93 degrees!  

T-Shirts

EVERYONE (parents and students) will wear our fantastic T-shirts on Tuesday!  Students will receive their shirts Tuesday morning.  Parents, please wear your T-shirt to the train station!  

$$ MONEY $$

Students will have time to purchase snacks once we are in Old Sacramento.  If you want to purchase snacks please bring money to do so.  

STUFF TO BRING (Whatever YOU bring YOU will have to CARRY ALL DAY. )

• Money (for drinks, snacks, etc.)
• Lunch and snacks
• Water bottle
• Camera
• Notepad (Spiral Notebook)
• Pencil or pen
• Hat
• Sunscreen
• Comfortable walking shoes
• Cards

STUFF NOT TO BRING (While these things are a lot of fun, I want us to spend this time socializing, learning and having fun “together”.)

• Video games
• iPods
• Video Players
• Nintendo DS
• Other electronic entertainment equipment

Here are a couple links that might be fun to look at before Tuesday:

• http://www.oldsacramento.com/

• http://capitolmuseum.ca.gov/

The California State Railroad Museum

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you would like to accompany us to Sacramento there is still time!  The cost for an adult is $58.  Unfortunately, there were very limited seats at the $16 price.  If you would like to come with us, please send cash or check (made out to “team leader”) for $58.

Download a PDF version of this important information here!

Sacramento Field Trip

Date:        Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Time:        6:45 AM
Location:     Fremont Amtrak Station, 37260 Fremont Boulevard, Fremont, CA 94536
Meals:      You need to eat breakfast before you come and bring a morning snack.  You also need to bring a sack lunch (or school lunch) and an afternoon snack.

TRAIN INFORMATION

Train  to Sacramento

Train:      524 Capitols
Leaves: Fremont (FMT) 7:09 am
Arrives: Sacramento (SAC) 9:45 am

Train Returning to Fremont

Train:      543 Capitols
Leaves: Sacrament (SAC) 3:35 pm
Arrives: Fremont (FMT) 6:07 pm

Map of Train Station in Fremont

Fremont Train Station, 37260 Fremont Boulevard, Fremont, CA

On Tuesday, March 3, 2009 at 1:00 PM our class as the honor of attending Greg Mortenson‘s lecture at James Logan High School.  Mr. Mortenson wrote the best-selling book Three Cups of Tea.

This fall all students at Pioneer participated with in Pennies For Peace a penny drive that helped raise money to build schools for children, specifically girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. You may watch a great video about this program here. This Pennies for Peace program is part of Mortenson’s work.

We may be traveling with a third grade class to Logan or we may travel by car. Either way, we will need some parent helpers involved.  If this sounds like something that you would like to participate in, please mail me or use this contact form to let me know.

As we get a little bit closer to the date, you will receive more information about this special event.

Here is a student created video of Mortenson:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you are interested in more information, Borders has a series of interviews with Mortenson here.

ABOUT THE HIDDEN VILLA FIELD TRIP

Dear Parents,

We’re so glad your child’s class is coming to Hidden Villa soon!

Hidden Villa is a 1600-acre wilderness preserve and organic farm located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains in Los Altos Hills (see www.hiddenvilla.org for more information). Hidden Villa was founded by Josephine and Frank Duveneck, who generously opened their gates over 70 years ago to allow people to realize how essential it is to care for our land. Their tradition continues today as a non-profit trust.

Your child will be spending the day hiking in the wilderness, working and playing in the organic childrens’ garden, and visiting our farm animals in a group of 6-8 children under the supervision of our trained Hidden Villa staff or docents. Our program encourages children to work together in small groups where equal participation is emphasized. Because every student’s parents are not able to attend the field trip, we ask that chaperones not accompany their own child. We believe that each can have their own wonderful experience and the opportunity to share twice the stories with each other at the end of the day. Parents can support our program goals by modeling our “3 F’s:” staying focused, being flexible, and having fun.

We recommend that your child:

• Receive a good night’s sleep and a nutritious breakfast as he/she will expend a lot of energy.

• Wear older clothes with long sleeve shirts, pants, and a sweater or jacket.

• Wear comfortable old shoes for walking.

• Bring a nutritious “No Garbage Lunch” (see below)

• Bring a refillable and recloseable water bottle with water in it (not sugared juice or sports drinks).

• Carry a small day pack

The No Garbage Lunch

(Because there is no “away” when you “throw it away”….and because there are no public garbage cans at Hidden Villa!

Why ?

• Our landfills are filling up!! We are destroying our precious open space areas, clean water, and atmosphere with our refuse.

• Energy goes into growing and producing your lunch, including packaging. For example, a juice box is made of trees, aluminum and plastic. These must be transported, milled and processed. Conserve energy and resources by using less packaging.

How ?

Reduce. Use less packaging. Instead of buying juice boxes, buy a large container and bring it in your own container.

Reuse plastic containers, plastic and paper bags. Use your paper lunch bag again…or use a cloth bag instead. Be creative! (Many used, unbreakable beverage containers make good water bottles.)

Recycle paper, plastic, cardboard, aluminum, and whatever else you can.

Rot your kitchen waste in a compost pile.

Thanks so much for your co-operation!

Hidden Villa Parent Letter.pdf

Dear Parents,

Room 18 has the opportunity to go on an additional science-related field trip Friday, November 21st.  The cost of this field trip is $16 per student.

Pioneer is in the middle of a fundraising for school field trips and activities and I strongly encourage you to participate in these fundraisers.  Because our field trip is happening while we are fundraising for other school field trips and activities, I need to ask you to contribute $16 or whatever they can afford for your child’s field trip.  If you are unable to pay the full $16, please give whatever you can afford.  Every child will get to attend this field trip regardless of how much they pay.

Room 18’s field trip is to Hidden Villa.  Hidden Villa is a 1600-acre wilderness preserve and organic farm located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains in Los Altos Hills (see www.hiddenvilla.org for more information). Hidden Villa was founded by Josephine and Frank Duveneck, who generously opened their gates over 70 years ago to allow people to realize how essential it is to care for our land. Their tradition continues today as a non-profit trust.

Hidden Villa’s curriculum is designed for 2nd-6th grades and starts with a two-hour classroom orientation by Hidden Villa naturalists a week before the field trip. Using a slide show, music, role-plays, and hands-on teaching stations, the concepts and attitudes to be experienced at Hidden Villa are presented to the children.
During their field trip at Hidden Villa, the children learn the importance of the farm and wilderness to our urban environment. They may take leftover lunches to the compost pile, compost to the garden, and garden plants to the animals who will turn them into wool sweaters, milk, eggs, or hairbrushes. Following Adobe Creek up into the wilderness, they explore a variety of plant communities, learn about food webs, predator/prey relationships, animal adaptations, and stewardship of the land.

Matthew Callison

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - There will be additional field trip information coming shortly.  Please fill out the information below and return this form with $16 or whatever you can afford. If you pay by check, please make the check out to PIONEER STUDENT BODY.

Student Name: __________________________________________________________

Field Trip Cost $16.00  I am including $ ___________________ for my child.

Download a copy of the Hidden Villa field trip information here.