New York Science Trip Final Updates and Information

Hi all,

  Just a few final reminders for this week's NY Geology Trips on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (depending on your child's assigned day).

CLICK HERE For Packing List, Itinerary, and Electronics Policy 


1. Drop off is at 5:45 AM at WMS: When you drop off your child in the morning please park in the teacher parking lot. DO NOT drive up the bus driveway. Students will be loading onto the bus and we do not want any traffic coming up the driveway at this time. The science room doors will be open, the main door will be locked.

2. Snacks and Food: Please remember as you are packing your child's food for the day to not pack any foods with peanuts or any kind of nuts as well as any shellfish. We have children on the bus with food allergies and would like to avoid any emergencies due to food allergies. Thank you for your cooperation with this. Please also remember that your child must bring with them their food for breakfast, snacks, and lunch. Students must also bring their own drinks and a water bottle. No Caffeinated beverages allowed. Please make sure all beverages are screw-top bottles. Lunches are stored underneath the bus in a large cooler. Please pack lunches separate from snacks and drinks.

3. Cave clothing requirements for Howe Caverns: Please remember that if your child into Howe cave they must be wearing long pants, a long sleeve shirt, a warm jacket and sneakers or boots. There are no exceptions to this rule - it is the policy of Howe Caverns. Students will not get wet or muddy in Howe Caverns nor will they require a change of clothes after entering Howe Cave.

4. Dinner: Dinner is at the Lee rest area on the Mass. Pike. Students may bring their own dinner or no more than $20.00 for fast food at the rest area. Fast food options include Fresh City, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and D'Angelos Subs. Students are welcome to bring their own dinner as well, we will keep it in the cooler underneath the bus until we arrive at the rest area.

5. Phone chain:  We will activate the phone chain upon leaving dinner at the Lee Rest Area on the Mass Pike- we will be approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes away at this point.

6. Pick up at the end of the trip at WMS: When you pick up your child please again park your car in the teacher lot and do not drive up the bus driveway. Same as the morning kids will be going around  both sides of the bus when they return.

7. School Issued Clipboards: Your child was issued a black plastic school clipboard to use on the New York Trip. Please have them pack this in their backpack and return to their science teacher on Monday following the trip.



Thanks for your support from home, trips like this cannot happen without parent support

8th Grade Student Activity: New York Geology Trip Logistics and Packing

Arrive at WMS – 5:45 AM

Return to WMS – 8:00 - 9:00  PM (approximate)

Transportation – Silver Fox Coach Busses

Packing List:

Science Stuff(IN A BACKPACK TO BRING ON BUS)

Camera – digital or disposable: you will need to take about 36-48 pictures

Pencils (mechanical is best)

Packet (To be picked up when you arrive at school)

Food(IN YOUR BACKPACK)

(NO NUT FOODS ALLOWED ON TRIP THANK YOU)

(NO CAFFEINATED BEVERAGES ALLOWED ON TRIP THANK YOU)

Breakfast if not eaten at home

Morning snack (drink and healthy snack)

Lunch (stored with 50 other lunches under the bus in an un-insulated container)

Afternoon snack (drink and healthy snack)

Bag dinner or money for fast food dinner at rest stop

Water Bottle

CLOTHING: We are outside for the majority of this trip. Please prepare for this and wear clothes that will keep you warm and dry.

• Cave clothes: Long pants and long sleeved shirt required as well as a warm jacket. NO SHORTS allowed on the trip and in Howe Caverns. NO EXCEPTIONS.
• Sneakers,hiking boots or rain boots. No open toed footwear allowed.
• Bring or wear a hat, mittens and a warm jacket.
• Rain Jacket and rain boots.

8th Grade Student Activity: NY Geology Trip Learning Itinerary

Please note: All times are approximate

5:45 AM – Arrive at WMS, please park in the faculty parking lot, do not come up the main driveway – thank you!

7:30 AM – Holyoke, MA on the banks of the Connecticut River – Students observe dinosaur footprints and try to develop a theory as to what the dinosaurs were doing here when they left these tracks along a swampy lakeshore 200 million years ago

9:00 – From highway students observe the rock formations along the Mass. Pike – evidence of collisions of tectonic plates 400 million years ago. They are looking at the Berkshire hills today which at one point were as high as the Himalayas and volcanic

10:00 – Howe Caverns – Students travel through the cave in groups of 15-20, led by their science teacher and a tour guide.

12:00 – John Boyd Thatcher Park – Students walk along the top of a 500 foot limestone cliff and take a trail down to the bottom of the cliff, New York 400 million years ago was a tropical, warm, shallow sea (limestone forms from coral reefs) during the walk they observe the rock that makes up the cliff, fossils that are located in the rock and under 2 waterfalls that plunge over this cliff

Late Afternoon – Students go to 2 fossil sites and collect, observe, and make theories about the fossils they find here.

Dinner – Mass Pike Lee Rest area. Bought by students or brought from home

8:00-9:00 – Arrive back at WMS

Enduring Understanding of this trip: How has the geology of Eastern New York and Massachusetts changed over the past 500 million years?

ELECTRONICS POLICY – 8th Grade Student Activity: NY Geology Trip

The New York Geology Trip is an opportunity for us to take the science classroom into the field and see the geology we teach in class. Since the trip is the classroom and students will be required to put in their best effective effort and hard work both in the field and while on the bus working on their field guide we have the following electronics policy:

CELL PHONES

• Students may bring their cellphones with them for the purpose of calling for a ride when they return to the middle school in the evening if their ride has not arrived yet.
• Cellphones should remain in backpack and on the bus when we are at each site.
• Cell phones are not allowed for calling, texting, social networking, and any other social media at any time on the trip.
• Any violation of the policy will result in the device being taken away until the end of the trip and a loss of points on the NY Tip Packet Effort Portion of your rubric

ELECTRONIC DEVICES

• Portable electronic devices such as Ipods, mp3 players, smartphones are allowed for music only while on the NY trip
• Electronic devices must be put turned off and put away when your teacher has instructed the group to do so.
• No laptops, dvd players, tablets, portable gaming devices allowed on this trip
• No portable speakers: headphones only when listening to your music
• Any violation of the policy will result in the device being taken away until the end of the trip and a loss of points on the NY Tip Packet Effort Portion of your rubric

Students are responsible for the care of their own electronic devices while on this trip.

Thank you,

Rich Battaglia , Allison King and Jennifer Nichols

8th Grade Science Teachers