Town Common Field Trip

Today we had our Town Common Field Trip. We started at the Post Office and met Marie the Postmaster of Shutesbury. She showed us the beautiful, old post office boxes(maybe the oldest in the area), the slots for mail delivered to your boxes, the scale to weigh packages, the "flats" (magazines) for delivery, the loading/unloading zone, and the outside P.O. boxes. We were able to locate most addresses (not the Amherst ones). We also met April who sorts the mail, and Diane who delivers the mail.

Then we went to the Town Hall and met Leslie the town clerk. She showed us the book that holds birth certificates. We were able to find some of our friends in the book. She also showed us some old pictures of Shutesbury Town Common from long ago. Leslie makes sure that all of our dogs have tags.

We then met Becky, the town administrator-the person in charge of town hall. She told us about her job--making sure the roads are clear, the library has books, the school has teachers.

Police Harding introduced himself and asked for help solving the mystery of the stolen bird feeder. Someone had reported that their bird feeder was taken. Chief Harding showed us the clues--tracks of animals. Was it a bear? Was it a deer? Was it a moose? We figured out that it was a moose, based on the hard evidence--a photo of a moose!

Mary Anne, the town librarian, provided us with a delicious snack of goldfish pretzels and juicy strawberries. After a picnic on the Common, we went to the library. Mary Anne read poetry and two stories. The first was "The Rotten Island", by William Steig, and then a story about a baby in a bubble.

We then walked to the town hall and their was Chief Tibbits with his fire engine and fire gear. He put all of his protective gear on--even his mask and tank. Now we know what a firefighter would sound and look if we needed help. Makenna asked if there were any girl firefighters--there are two in Shutesbury. After Taikoda told the group that fire could melt glass, Beau wanted to know if the helmet would melt. Then we got to get in the fire engine!!

It was a great morning. I encourage you to share the pictures with your children and talk about our community helper helpers. When we return from vacaton, we will learn about our school community helpers.

Enjoy!!