What was your favorite field trip you went on as a child or in high school? Why was it so enjoyable? Did it relate to something you were learning? What is your favorite field trip you've taken students on? Do you go every year? How expensive is it per child? Does it relate to your curriculum? What field trip would you love to take your students on that you haven't yet? What's keeping you from going?
Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty! We went in 5th grade. My first year teaching pre-k I taught in Brooklyn and we went to the Museum of Natural History when we were studying dinosaurs. The kids LOVED it!
I have two favorites. My 5th grade trip was to Morristown, NJ to visit Washington's Headquarters, Jockey Hollow, and the Tempe Wick homestead. (my teacher was related to Martha Washington) On the way home my teacher had the bus stop at a famous ice cream parlor and bought us all cones. The other favorite was in 6th grade. We visited the United Nations and the Statue of Liberty. My favorite trip for one of my classes was to the Ringling Brothers circus at Madison Square Garden. We did it on a Saturday.
This may sound over simplified, but I taught K for 18 years. My all time favorite fieldtrip was a trip to the dump or a more sophisticated name the county Transfer Station. Super cool place to go to!!!
We went to the bird santuary!!! In HS we went on a few long trips... one up north for earth science, Disney to march with the band (highlight seeing the space shuttle take off @ 3am), we also we to Chicago to see Phantom of the Opera and Joseph (Donny Osmond was Joseph)!!!
In middle school, we went to a minor league baseball game as an end-of-the-year reward. They were so much fun! I also loved when our student council went to the state session at the capital; as our president I even got to sit on the floor at my representatives desk and vote! I really enjoyed chaperoning the 8th grade DC trip, and my first year I took my 5th graders rock climbing. That was such a great team-building experience, I wish I had done it earlier in the year!
We also have a living history museum nearby, but I stopped going when they started offering a special program that matched another grade's curriculum better than ours. We are only allowed to go out of the county once a year, so that really limits things. We're also over an hour from a city, which means you can really only do one thing in a day. Every year I struggle to find the right place for my kids: science museum, musical performance, etc.
I don't remember going on any field trips. But in High School I joined the French Club (even though I took Spanish) so I could go see Le Miserables in San Francisco with the club. I loved it. I went to see it 3 other times before it closed.
Great thread! What was your favorite field trip you went on as a child or in high school? Why was it so enjoyable? Did it relate to something you were learning? I think the out of state trip to the National FFA Convention the year I was an officer was most memorable. It was a big deal to me to travel like that because it was such a new experience. It did relate to what we were learning in ag, but it was more fun than anything else. What is your favorite field trip you've taken students on? Do you go every year? How expensive is it per child? Does it relate to your curriculum? We took a one-time field trip to an awesome outdoor adventure "camp" intended to build a sense of team and community. It was really fun and I think it did help with student relationships, at least for a month or two. What field trip would you love to take your students on that you haven't yet? What's keeping you from going? I wish we took our young students to colleges. It's just not done here and I think it would a great introduction, especially for students who would be the first in their families to attend.
I loved field trips when I was a child & liked all the ones I went on, which included the usual kinds of things & I'm forgetting several here: - the zoo - Cabrillo Marine Aquarium - LA county fair - numerous museums - whale watching - Sea World - a series of four musicals at a performing arts theatre (this one was optional if the parents wanted to pay to have their child go) - a week in the woods near Big Bear (6th grade) - a weekend in the woods too (7th grade; different school) ------------------------------------------------------------ I'm afraid with the position I have, I'll never get to take kids on a field trip. Once when I was student teaching, I was able to accompany the 6th gr class I worked with to a university campus. ------------------------------------------------------------- I've always been fond of the arts, having taken piano lessons for years & taking various types of art classes. So something with the arts: Plays/musicals/ballet, art gallery, seeing other cultures do their artisitc ways, etc.
My senior year of high school we went to Disney for our senior trip. It was definitely the best. It had nothing to do with academics, it's just a senior tradition. My cousin went in 2001 and they ended up taking a train from NYC to Florida because parents weren't going to let their kids fly down there. I can't imagine what a nightmare it was to chaperone though! I also loved going to the MET and the Bronx Zoo. I went to the zoo in 1st grade and there were so many chaperones that my dad and I got to hang out just the two of us all day. As one of 5 kids in my family I LOVED that! With my own students, we went to the Challenger Center this year. It's pricey but because we're Title 1 we got a significant discount. It the most amazing trip ever and there are centers all over the country- so check it out! The kids basically re-enact a mission (my group did a rendezvous with Halley's Comet, they also have a mission to Mars). They get a turn to be part of mission control and part of the spaceship- complete with a fake take off. There's a ton of math, science and team work involved. I cannot wait to to go again. There's a math museum opening up in NYC in December that I'd love to take my class to. I also really, really want to go to the Tenement Museum but that's not 3rd grade curriculum so that one is on the back burner for now. When the 9/11 Museum opens I'd also like to take my class there. I also want to do the Sony Wonder Technology Lab at the end of this school year. We're very fortunate being in NYC, we get free busing from our school to anywhere in NYC (you have to pay tolls but going from the Bronx to Manhattan there are no tolls) and because we're Title 1 I can usually get us in for free or for a discounted rate. I hope to go back to the Museum of Natural History and the Bronx Zoo this year as well.
My favorite field trips as a child were the Academy of Science, the Nutcracker Ballet, and a week long visit to a cabin spot on the coast. My favorite trip I have taken children on is a visit to the Shorebirds Nature Center to study the bay. It is very well designed and really organized. I do not go yearly because it is a lottery draw for the field trip. I would like to go on one involving public transportation in the area. I have not done it because of cost and organization necessary.
I always remember the one I went to in fifth grade, where we went to the Bay, and worked as crewman on the C.A. Thayer. The Captain was super strict, but it was amazing. I only went on one field trip with my students and that was an after school program. We went to the Cisco campus, and saw how things were done there. They had pretty cool tech, and we got lots of... swag.
