Sixth graders at Canyon Creek Elementary School finally went on the kindergarten field trip to the Dallas Zoo, which was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic that shut down schools.
These students began kindergarten at the start of the pandemic and are now getting ready to transition to junior high. With the principal’s approval, parents and school staff worked together to coordinate the rescheduled outing using class funds, as reported by Fox 4 KDFW.
These students spent kindergarten learning over Zoom. In first grade, they read while wearing masks and practiced social distancing rather than mingling with classmates.
Annabelle Smith said she still remembers learning the original trip would not happen.
“I found out that we weren’t able to go, so it made me really sad,” she said.
Sarah Dudley, a parent of a sixth-grader, said that watching older and younger siblings have the experience made the missed trip stand out.
“When your older kid gets to go to the zoo and your younger kid gets to go the zoo, and your middle kid’s like, ‘Well I never got to go to the zoo with my classmates.’ You just kind of feel, you know, a little sad for them that they missed out on that,” Dudley said, per Fox 4.
Even as they head to junior high, the students embraced the trip.
“This is the first time I actually went to a zoo,” said Victoria Ramierez, per Fox 4. “I’m really happy I’m here.”
“I thought it was really fun,” Emme Dudley told Fox 4.
“My favorite animal was probably the monkey with the mustache,” Smith said.
