My students cannot wait either! They ask questions about the amount of snowfall the GYE (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem) is getting each week in hopes that I will break concentration and strike up a conversation about YNP instead of a boring math topic. Sneaky...but very smart at the same time!
It's funny how you can bring the great outdoors and elements of Yellowstone into your classroom in almost every area of academics. Math lessons include graphs about snowfall amounts or fire destruction and science lessons can range from chemical weathering to serotinous cones on lodgepole pines. Let's not forget that the process of writing/language arts can be taught through any and all of these wonderful topics! This expedition is a plethora of information for any teacher who's in need of a spark to get your creative juices flowing again, that's for sure! It's a win-win trip. What more could you ask for as a student or a teacher - beautiful classroom, wonderful lessons, and a spark that lasts far longer than the typical class period. It is life long learning at its finest!!!
I feel the butterflies rising up in my stomach and as John Muir once said, "The mountains are calling, and I must go." If only we left tomorrow...