A return to cool weather and fall traditions comes along with a return to field trips for Thomas County Schools at Garrison-Pilcher Elementary School.  Current second graders consist of the group of students who were in kindergarten when the March 2020 COVID-19 shutdown brought an abrupt end to the school year. Along with missing in-person school, the students missed an annual Cheehaw Park kindergarten field trip. The first week after Fall Break, second graders traveled to Aunt Louise's Farm in Monticello, Florida. 

Second grade teacher Blair Hubbard said, “There were several students that had never seen ‘real’ animals-- as they kept calling them!”  Since these students had never experienced an all-day field trip, Hubbard said that her students had questions beforehand like: Where will we eat lunch?  How will we get there?  Students are housed in “pods” of classrooms, making for a small-group feel in the building.  Hubbard’s pod of 6 classes enjoyed rotating through 6 stations at the pumpkin patch:  corn maze, playing in the corn bin, hayride, viewing animals, feeding animals, holding bunnies, and duck races. 

Corn Pic: Graysen Weaver, Nolan Cooper, Kimbreesha Ross, Kailyn Crawford, Tessa Anderson

Ducks: Nolan Cooper, Caleb Bell with Ann Quick

Class Pic:  Graysen Weaver, Laynee Stewart, Bryce Burdon, Hailey Widerman, Katelyn Davis, Landyn Hemby, Kaylee Mash, Blair Hubbard, Peyton Harper, Sutton Warren, Kimbreesha Ross, CJ Newkirk, Nolan Cooper, Bray Broadway, Tessa Anderson, Thomas County Central High School Early Childhood Education intern Emily Hobbs, Kailyn Crawford, Ann Quick, Kailan Hadley, and Caleb Bell.