Field Trip to "21st Century Farm"

A couple of weeks ago my school went on a field trip to a place called the "21st Century Farm."  I don't know why they decided to called it that (a little strange sounding to Mr. Park and I) but it was a fun time nonetheless.  We did a few different activities, had a really great lunch (well, the teachers did :) and then picked some pears from an orchard.  The first activity we did was feed some goats and cows.  The petting zoo scene is always a winner for elementary school kids, so that was nice.

Here I am in front of the park's main sign.  I guess sometimes rabbits ride whales?  haha

Here is a picture of the goat feeding area.

Snack time for the goats.

Here are more students and a cow.

Next we went to this little fish farm area where a unique (and apparently delicious) fish/eel creature gets bread in mass quantity.  Here you can pick up these little guys, and try to hold on to them.  The students were all about reaching into these shallow pools to pick them up.  Mr. Park and I did as well, a little reluctantly though since they were quite slimy, and there was not anywhere to wash our hands.

Here's the pool with students grabbing fishies.

Mr. Park and a student.

A boy holding 2 of these little guys.

Next we walked through a rice field, and up to an area where they had tractor rides.  This one was a lot of fun for me, and the kids really enjoyed it too.

Here is a video of it.

Next we had our lunch.  The students had the lunches that they packed, and the staff at 21st Century Farm looked after them.  The teachers usually have a picnic with kimbap and fruit for lunch on field trips, but on this trip we had a full restaurant style meal.  The people that main and operate this park know that if you keep the teachers happy, there is a better chance that our school will return here next year.  It still costed money (the school covered it, so free to me), but it was much better than a traditional picnic style lunch.  We had a kind of seafood gumbo and many common side dishes.  After lunch we went to the pear orchard.

This is one of my favorite students, Min-Ho, in the pear orchard.  He used to be a pretty disruptive student, but after taking him aside and using positive reinforcement (as opposed to just yelling at him, which seemed to be the old approach) he has turned into one of my best behaved students!  

Here I am in the Pear orchard.  We all picked one, and were given a second one to take with us.  

That was a nice little break in my week, and a fun experience.  We finished around 1:30 or 2:00, then made it back to school around 3:00.  Mr. Park and I still had our after school class, but it was a nice treat of a day.