To the Stars, Salt, and Science in Kansas

Fifth grade was ready to "blast off" this April with their first overnight field trip! The journey began early Thursday morning with sleepy eyes, sleeping bags, snacks, and a lot of excitement. Check out the information below, and see more photos here!

Everyone hopped on board a charter bus and we headed for our first stop which was the Cosmosphere Science Museum in Hutchinson, Kansas. This museum is a renowned International SciEd Center & Space Museum. It includes a vast collection of space artifacts, including U.S. and Soviet/Russian space objects. Students were not only able to travel back in time, but to take a look at what our future holds with space exploration and possible future discoveries. After a full day of activities, we actually spent the night IN the museum.

We then started the next day with a trip 650 miles underground. Strataca is a salt mine museum also in Hutchinson, Kansas. The museum is built within one of the world's largest deposits of rock salt. We took train rides through the mine, learned all about how it was developed, and were even able to bring some samples home with us.

Our last stop was the Hutchinson Zoo, where the students saw Bison, various types of reptiles, and even a legless lizard! There was so much for the students to take away from our trip, but the most important of these will be the memories. Time spent learning outside the walls of Oakhill is so valuable, and will hopefully open doors for our students to the world around us!