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School Field Trip Ideas To Keep Your Students Motivated!
I loved field trips and I have many school field trip ideas to pass on to you! I used to plan 2-3 educational field trips per year. You may be wondering where I took my students and how I fit these excursions into the curriculum? Depending upon the school and principal, you usually knew which grade you would be teaching the following year by May/June of the current year. When looking through the grade curriculum, particularly in the science and social studies subjects, check out what your own city, town, community have to offer that can relate to the units that you will be teaching. Lucky for me. living in a large city, I had a vast variety of places that my students could experience so planning field trips was easy. Depending upon the grade you teach and the curriculum here are some school field trip ideas: 1. Community Helpers: Go to your nearest fire department - these men are great with kids and offer free tours. 2. Properties of Soil: Go to your local garden nursery - they may have work-shops for the kids. 3. Art Museums: They give tours and can focus on an area that your students are working on in class, e.g. water colours, still life, sculptures, etc. 4. Science Centre: The ideas here are endless - they provide labs, presentations and exhibits for all grade levels. 5. Museums: Again multiple sections to choose from for your field trips, for instance: Medieval Times, Animals and their habitats, Ancient civilizations, Dinosaurs, etc. - tours, labs and exhibits. 6. Pioneer Village: For the grade 3 students - they loved being there. 7. Local Park: Seasonal - animal habitats, environment, etc. 8. Farm: Animal habitats, crops, etc. I could go on and on. So you can see school field trip ideas are endless! Find out what your area has to offer, use your imagination, search the internet - numerous websites may offer something you're looking for. When I was planning field trips, I preferred to go once I was almost finished teaching that particular unit. By then, my students had a good solid background, were quite knowledgeable on the subject and would receive the full benefit of the excursion. They could then relate what they had learned to what they would in person. But, some teachers use field trips as their introduction to the unit they are about to teach. Everyone is different. You do what suits you best. However, once you have chosen your school field trip, then the real fun begins (NOT!). And again, this may depend upon your board, school district and/or principal. You need to fill out forms - where is field trip, reason for the trip, the necessary requirements (date, times. etc.), order the bus and fill out a seating plan. And most importantly, your principal has to OK the field trip. And then don't forget the permission letter to the parents explaining the trip, cost, extra things students need to bring with them, ask for volunteers (optional depending where you're going). When all is said and done, it truly is worth it - your students' enthusiasm, asking or answering intelligently and taking them somewhere that some of them have never gone or will ever go. On their return, there was some type of related activity to do in class - an evaluation and a class discussion about the field trip as well. The last thing I did when I returned to my classroom was to write thank you notes to the parent volunteers (an extremely important gesture). I hope I've given you some beneficial and fun school field trip ideas. I strongly encourage you to plan and organize 2-3 excursions a year (even have a bake sale to cover the costs if necessary). When you see the looks on your students' faces, you will realize that it was well worth the hassle. Bon Voyage!
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