Our Trip to Safeway

We had a fun and enjoyable trip to our local Safeway this morning.  Luckily the weather held off for our walk there and back.

We met Pat, the community liaison, who took us on our tour.  We began with a walk around the main part of the store through the deli and bakery departments.  Pat pointed out several different sections to the students.  Once we got to the Dairy section we turned and went ‘behind the scenes’ into the Employee area.  We had a cool visit in the back of the Dairy and saw how these products are stored.

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We then moved further into the Employee area and saw how they crush cardboard boxes for recycling and where the big trucks join up with the loading dock to offload their deliveries.

If we thought that the Dairy section was cool we were in for a surprise when we went into the freezer section.  Even huddled together it was very brisk!!

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We made further stops (in the Employee section) to watch the butcher use his machine to wrap and label meat and to see where the produce is washed.  We then left the back to go out into the store.  We went through the Produce section, the Floral department, and through a grocery aisle to once again go back into the Employee section.  Here we went in behind to the Bakery area where the baker showed us how they turn a large slab of bread dough into several perfectly formed and uniformly sized dinner rolls.  A very neat machine!!

When we completed our tour Pat, very nicely, gave us a bag of some groceries: a brick of cheddar cheese, a box of crackers, some grapes, an apple, an orange, and a banana.  While the students were in Music this afternoon I prepared a cheese plate, a fruit plate, and a bowl of apple quarters by adding in the leftover ones from our weekly Fruit and Vegie programme.  Students enjoyed a snack while they wrote their Journal entries before going home.

It was a fun day.  I hope that all students enjoyed their walking field trip today.

The Butterflies Have Arrived!!

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Students were very pleased to arrive in class on Monday morning to see that some of the butterflies had emerged from their chrysalids!!  These ones are enjoying some sugar water that is in the sponge and the lid below.  Students have been watching the butterflies’ long tongues (proboscis) which they use to drink liquids.

Some of the butterflies have, unfortunately, not had a successful transition into adult-hood.  As in all of nature, life is often a struggle.  We will likely release some of the early emergers in the next day or so.  There are still some which have not left their chrysalids.  We will wait a while longer to see if they will be viable.