Wolf Lake/South Haven trip May 17th

Wolf Lake/ South Haven Trip – May 17th

Dear Parents,

Our field trip to the Wolf Lake fish hatchery and the South Haven Lakeshore is coming up on May 17^th.  Below are the following things that you and your child need to know for the trip.

                                   

Dress : For the trip, please have your children dress in layers.  Our weather has been extremely unpredictable lately so it could snow or it could be 80 degrees!  Temperatures by the lake shore this time of year are typically 10 – 15 degrees cooler than the Kalamazoo area. This is due to the cold water temps.  Please make sure your child has a sweatshirt or light jacket “just in case”. 

Lunch: Each student must pack or purchase a sack lunch from the cafeteria.   We prefer a disposable sack lunch as there are less things to keep track of and bring back.  NO glass bottles.  NO pop!  Pop contains too much sugar and salt and they will dehydrate quickly running around in the sun.  Water, Gatorade and healthy juices are fine. If you signed up earlier this year for school lunch, this is already taken care of.

Other Recommendations:  We highly recommend sunglasses, and sunscreen.  With the sun coming off the water in South Haven, the suns rays are very bright and damaging to early season, untanned skin.  Please be sure they leave the house with sunscreen on their faces, necks, ears, and any other exposed skin or they will burn.

Cameras:  If you want to send a disposable camera with your child that is a great idea! This is their most memorable trip of the year.  PLEASE don’t send expensive digital cameras with them as they will be destroyed by the sand at south haven. Even in a case sand gets into EVERYTHING!

Parent Volunteers:  We would LOVE to have you attend this last field trip with your child and some of you have already replied.  Individuals driving WILL have to pay a $5.00 meter fee at the beach or be ticketed.  Even the busses have to pay the meter. In the event we LUCK OUT and the meters aren’t up yet, we don’t have to pay.

Lake Michigan: Weather permitting, the kids will be allowed to go into the water up to their knees. Due to the great number of drownings in Lake Michigan last year due to rip tides, any student who violates this rule will be asked to leave the water permanently for the rest of the trip.  This includes having to chase after a frisbie or ball that might have “accidentally” been tossed out too far.  We ask that any parents attending this trip with us, also make sure that their children adhere to this rule regardless of whether you are present or not.  Allowing your child to get wetter when all the others are not allowed to, just makes our job for the day that much more difficult as we can’t keep track of who is allowed to over who isn’t.

As this is a school field trip, school dress code must be adhered to. No bathing suits, bathing suit tops, bare midriff shirts or spaghetti strap tops that show bra straps allowed.

HOWEVER! After the bus load of students leaves, those remaining behind with their parents can obviously do whatever they want to.

A Walk on the Pier to the Lighthouse     Towards the end of the trip, if it isn’t windy, and there are no high waves, those children that want to, can walk with their teachers and chaperones out onto the pier to the lighthouse for pictures.  We will insist that students not walk on the outer concrete areas near the edge on the way out or back for their safety.

ALTERNATIVE PLANS:  In the event that severe weather is predicted for the day of the trip, we will plan an alternate activity. In the past, we have gone to the airzoo, or a movie at the rave theater ( usually the earth day movie)  We will have plans in place in case thunderstorms or severe weather is imminent.

   Look forward to seeing you! 

Sincerely,

Mrs Buell

Mrs. Sadowski

Mrs VanderMei