In Florida our field trips were to The Brevard Zoo and Disney World. At The American Community School here in Abu Dhabi, Sara’s entire 7th grade class – all 80 of them (and 13 chaperones), spend 6 days in Cappadocia, Turkey as part of their Week Without Walls program! This is a magnificent and historical area in central Turkey.
Millions of years ago, layers of ash 100-150 meters thick from the Erciyes and Hasan volcanos landed on the plateaus, lakes, & rivers of this region. Over the thousands of years that followed, smaller volcanos, rivers, wind, and floods, caused erosion in these layers, forming the amazing conical rock formations seen today, and which are known as fairy chimneys!
We all know that schools try to make a connection between what the kids are learning in school and the field trips. In my opinion the teachers here have done a wonderful job! In the weeks prior to the trip, the Science teacher had each child choose a volcano from around the world, research it, and then present a keynote slide show to the class. For this trip, the teachers had the students become our tour guides! This was a brilliant idea! The students were each given an aspect of the trip to research and they will do presentations to the entire group through out the week!
We left Abu Dhabi on friday evening on a night flight and changed planes in Istanbul. During our 4 hour layover some of the kids gave their presentations. I learned so much from them! We arrived in Kayseri at about 1:30 pm and then at the Hotel in Goreme at 3pm. But no rest for the weary as we headed out right away for a 2 hour walk through Rose Valley. (photo below) We all loved the cooler temperatures-putting on hats & gloves!! When we left Abu Dhabi it was in the mid 90’s still, but here it was a chilly 58*F! What I loved most today was the kid’s reactions to seeing the formations they had been researching! It really made it all real for them. I think I’m going to have my girls do research for family trips we take and make them tour guides!
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