“There are a few things that I need to tell you before we can get on the bus,” Miss Nell told the class. Everyone was very excited to be going on a field trip; which made for even more talking, laughing and rolling around on the Circle Time rug than usual. “I’ve assigned each of you to a group,” their teacher informed them. “You must stay with your group at all times; do not go off by yourself. You must listen to your chaperone and follow their directions.”

It took longer than Miss Nell had planned to get everyone into their groups and on the bus. She laughed, “Your enthusiasm is slowing us down!” They were finally settled and able to be on their way. Katie, Miranda & Aleisha were especially excited because they were all assigned to the same group. Their chaperone was Aleisha’s mom, Mrs. Campbell, who was having a hard time keeping them in their seats. They were talking and giggling so much that she had completely given up trying to tell them anything. “Mom!” Aleisha shouted. “Can you believe that I didn’t even want to come?” Aleisha’s mom just smiled as she thought, “I can’t believe that I wanted to come.”

It was a quick bus ride and before they knew it, the bus was parked outside of ‘Bake Rattle & Roll’. The aroma from something baking greeted them as they filed out of the bus. Everyone automatically took a deep breath so they could enjoy the smell. Several of the students tried to guess what it was that they could smell. One child said, “I smell chocolate chip cookies.” Tyler said, “No, I think its raisin bread.” Katie said, “You’re both wrong, it’s definitely brownies.”

The scent only got stronger as they entered the building. The front portion of the building was a bake shop. There were several display cases and all of the children immediately headed for them and pressed up against the glass to view the yummy treats that were for sale. The girls were drawn to the tiered wedding cakes. Katie dreamily said, “I can’t wait until I’m a bride.” Miranda and Aleisha giggled and in unison said, “Me, too.” Mrs. Campbell said, “Okay, you three, that’s enough daydreaming. Miss Nell wants us to be ready to go on the tour.”

The students and chaperones were separated in to two groups. One group would tour the bakery section to learn how things were made while the other half stayed out in the bake shop to learn how things were displayed, packaged and sold. They were also going to learn how to use the cash register. Then the two groups would switch places.

Both Mrs. Campbell and Miss Nell, who was chaperoning Tyler, Brian and Jerome, lead their groups along the tour. Sometimes it was a bit crowded and sometimes it was a challenge to keep everyone from touching things they weren’t suppose to, especially the hot ovens. But, much to their surprise, the chaperones ended up having just as much fun as the students. They got to see how different kinds of breads and cookies are made. They even got to watch a wedding cake being decorated. The girls were completely mesmerized but the boys declared it to be completely boring. To which Katie haughtily replied, “Just for that, Jerome, I won’t marry you after all!” Jerome who was completely confused said, “I never wanted to marry you.” Miss Nell & Mrs. Campbell could hardly keep from laughing; but so that an argument could be avoided, Miss Nell said, “Okay, let’s move on.”

They next thing they saw were cupcakes being taken out of an oven. Much to everyone’s surprise they were each going to be able to decorate a cupcake to take home. The chaperones were especially surprised since all they could think about was icing shooting all over the place, covering the children, themselves and anything else that was near by. Everyone got to choose which color of icing they wanted; no one was surprised that the girls chose pink and purple and the boys chose blue and green. All the children wanted to do their own decorating but they soon found out that they needed a little bit of help. The grownups were more than willing to help them. But Mrs. Campbell had never used a pastry bag before, and when she tried to help, the icing shot out of the top and she got some on her pants. But she was a good sport, she laughed as she said, “And I thought it was going to be the children who were messy. You guys were neater than I was.” The last step was to put on the sprinkles. All of the children covered their cupcakes with sprinkles, taking the time to eat a few of the sprinkles along the way.

Their guide then told them that their tour was over; it was time for the other group to go on the tour. They were to go out to the bake shop where they would be shown how to ring up their ‘purchase’ and they would also be shown how to pack it up so they’d be able to take it home. The children responded with a groan for they had wanted to eat their treat right away. The adults, however, were relieved that the eating part of the field trip would take place at home. They knew that they would never be able to get everyone settled down after they had eaten a treat. Everyone had fun taking a turn putting wax paper in a bakery box, which they had folded themselves, placing their cupcake inside and ringing up their pretend purchase on the cash register.

All too soon, it was time to get back on the bus. Miss Nell said, “Well, Tyler, you got your wish!” He said, “I did? What wish?” She reminded him that he had hoped they would get something to eat on the tour. He smiled as he got on the bus and said, “Oh, yeah, I remember now! I just wish I didn’t have to wait to eat it!”