Sayre's Fourth Grade Field Trip to SRAC

(WAVERLY, NY) Many people would say that they have forgotten most of what occurred during their elementary school days. But add a woolly mammoth, a birch bark canoe, touching artifacts from a thousand years ago, and a contest where you can win tickets to a live bear show, and you’ve got a school field trip that would be hard for anyone to ever forget.

That is what Sayre’s H. Austin Snyder Elementary 4^th grade experienced during their field trip to the Susquehanna River Archaeological Center (SRAC) in Waverly, NY recently. The field trip broke the class into four teams that rotated through several stations such as the one hosted by SRAC’s Ted Keir who presented “Hunting the Woolly Mammoth” with actual mammoth and mastodon remains, an atlatl and many other ancient artifacts that were found locally. At another station, SRAC’s Dick Cowles presented “Early European Contact” where the children saw actual trade beads and trade pipes and an authentic birch bark canoe while being allowed to identify many actual furs including one from a huge buffalo. SRAC’s Jack Andrus wore Native American clothing and told authentic Native American children’s stories that always are a huge hit with the students.

But the excitement didn’t stop there. The field trip finale was a contest where each of four teams tried to stump the other teams with questions about things they had learned with the winning team being awarded free tickets to the upcoming “Bears on Broad Street” to be held August 13^th and 14^th.

SRAC’s cofounder and executive director Deb Twigg noted, “This is the 6^th year that SRAC has hosted the fourth grade field trip for Snyder’s 4^th grade, and I have to say that I think this year was absolutely the best to date. You don’t get any better than having Ted, Dick and Jack doing these stations, and the contest at the end was a really well thought out effort by all of the kids. We were all really impressed with the things they learned and used to try to stump the other teams. They all did a great job. We want to thank Robin Munn and the rest of the teachers who helped make this a special memory for their students with us.”