Rainy Day Field Trips

In 10 Topics for School Blog Posts from Free Technology for Teachers, Richard Byrne suggests a blog topic on “5 local field trips to do on rainy days.”

I thought this was a great idea and started making me think about what is in my community that would be good field trip possibilities. Here are 4 places to visit in Greenville, SC on rainy days.

The Children’s Museum of the Upstate – for children age 0-12; admission charged

“As the 7th largest children’s museum in the country and 10th largest in the world, The Children’s Museum of the Upstate has become an educational resource, vital institution, and attraction for the entire region.

The length of time visitors spend at the museum varies, and is usually dependent on your child’s age and interests. The museum has three floors with 19 exhibit galleries with more than100 exhibit components. Exhibits are intended to engage children in educational imaginative play.  Some visitors come for the whole day; our museum members often drop in just for specific programming. We suggest 3-4 hours in order to see and do everything.

The museum boasts 80,000 square feet of interactive exhibits. With 19 hands-on galleries, there is plenty of fun and learning to be had. Kids and adults can simulate flight into space in 3,2,1 Blastoff, design their own Formula 1 racecar in Start Your Engines, or go exploring in the Kaleidoscope Climber. At any age, The Children's Museum of the Upstate is a place of possibility where children and adults alike can explore, discover, imagine, pretend, and Be Anything! “

Greenville County Art Museum -  free admission

“Considered the premier American art museum in the South, the GCMA is home to the world’s largest public collection of watercolors by iconic American artist Andrew Wyeth. The GCMA also has an impressive collection of paintings and prints by contemporary artist Jasper Johns. Ranging from Federal portraits to contemporary abstractions, the GCMA’s acclaimed Southern Collection invites viewers to survey American art history through works with ties to the South.”

Bob Jones Art Museum – admission charged

“The Old Master Painting Collection at the Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery provides a rare viewer experience outside European cities and metropolitan areas with beautiful masterworks by recognized artists and their students—all of which are aesthetically exhibited with period furniture, sculpture, and tapestries to lend a period ambiance to the galleries and give patrons a panoramic view of ages past.  Of special note, M&G’s baroque paintings represent one of the most important in America.

The Collection is one of the largest and most interesting collections of European Old Master paintings in America. These works of art from the 14th through the 19th centuries beautifully trace the religious, artistic, and cultural history of Western Europe. Included are important works of many major artists such as Rubens, Tintoretto, Veronese, Cranach, Gerard David, Murillo, Ribera, van Dyck, Honthorst, and Doré.

Patrons can also enjoy M&G’s Bowen Collection of Antiquities with artifacts that span 37 centuries and represent every day life from ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Hebrew cultures; and the Benjamin West Collection, a series of paintings housed in the War Memorial Chapel.

M&G’s Russian Icon Collection, which dates from the 14th through 20th centuries and includes several icons associated with the Romanovs, the last ruling family of Russia, is currently not on display. Check back  for details about when this collection will be available in the future.”

Upcountry History Museum – admission charged.

“Our Time Travels Program offers students hands-on activities in our Museum Classroom and in-depth tours in related exhibit areas. Your students will step into the Museum and be immersed in a particular period of history.  On their field trip, students can: hear one of our life figures share their story of life in the Upcountry, work with interactive exhibits to discover the past, participate in lively discussions with our trained docents, put their heads and hands to work, share their discoveries with one another. The Museum provides a variety of programs designed to meet state Social Studies standards for specific grade levels.  Our school field trips help teachers reinforce classroom learning and offer a unique hands-on experience.

School programs last approximately 90 minutes.”

Field Trip to Disney

We recently returned to Disney World and while in line for It’s A Small World, we met a group of 8th graders who were there on a field trip. One boy behind us wanted to talk to a group of his friends in front of us so we offered to let them get ahead of us. But they told us that they just wanted to talk and the guy would get back to his place in line and he did. I was really impressed with how well behaved all of them were and so I started a conversation with them. I hate that I didn’t get their school name or I would email their principal because I was so impressed with them. Not once did I hear any inappropriate language or behavior.

They told me that the whole 8th grade from a NC school came to Disney in 7 buses! (All I could think of was the adults with them and “Bless their hearts!”) I did ask how many bottles of aspirin was brought by the chaperones and all of the kids laughed.

It was interesting to hear that they had “school” for 2 hours each morning and they had a list of “required attractions” that they had to go on. One boy showed me his handout that listed the items and they had to choose one from one group etc. It’s a Small World was actually a requirement. I was impressed how the school made this out to be a fun but educational trip.

As I went to the different attractions, I started thinking about how they could be used for lessons and was thrilled at how many of them could be used as an introduction or enhancement to a lesson. We went to one called the Sum of All Thrills where you can design something and then experience it. My husband and I designed a roller coaster with a loop and corkscrew turns. You had to use a ruler to determine the height and then turn a knob to change the speed. Then you test it on the screen to see if it will work and make adjustments as necessary. When it is done, you get in this simulator and actually experience it virtually. The seats you sit in are on a mechanical arm and you move up, down, around, and even upside down. The cover comes over your head down to your waste and you are watching a screen as if you are really on a roller coaster. It was wonderful!

Of course Epcot is just educational everywhere you turn. The World Showcase has exhibits from different countries so it seems like a permanent World’s Fair. Innovations shows different inventions and learning activities. One was “The Great Piggy Bank Adventure” that talks about saving and investing your money. You actually take this ceramic piggy bank around to the different stations and enter it into the exhibit. At the end the machine weighs your piggy bank to see how much you saved. I think this would be a great learning activity for students!

Animal Kingdom was like a giant zoo with lots of real animals from around the world. There were lots of information about the different animals as well as staff stationed throughout the park to help explain anything and answer questions.

There are tons of learning experiences throughout each park.

I know that in times of bad economies that it is hard to justify field trips but I truly believe they can be so educational. If I couldn’t bring students some places, there are virtual field trips online that would be the next best thing.

What field trips have you taken your students on that have been successful as learning experiences? Please share.

Original photos by Pat Hensley

The Fun of Field Trips

In Under 100 Percent from Teacher Food, Mike Rush talks about the field trips he has taken with his students. He shares what he learned from all of this.

“The most important thing I’ve learned about field trips is that the sponsor needs to be prepared to be prepared. There are no perfect field trips. Something will happen that you did not expect and will challenge your wits in the moment. The more thinking you’ve done, the better prepared you’ll be to handle what comes. But when it comes, just keep thinking.”

This made me think about all the wonderful trips I have taken with my students. Some of them were great and of course many had their moments but luckily all of them were successes.

When I first started teaching high school, I found out that special education students were not valued very much. Other students were allowed to go on field trips but it would “cost” too much for my students to go on any. After talking it over with my students (and about half of them could drive), we decided to go on our own field trip on Saturday. I invited parents to come with us and we agreed to meet at a grocery store parking lot early one Saturday morning. All of my students showed up and we carpooled for the trip. We drove to North Carolina (about an hour away) to Carl Sandburg’s home. We hiked up to the top of the mountain where my students spontaneously recited Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees” that they had to memorize earlier in the year. This made me so proud of my kids that it almost made me cry. After a picnic lunch, we returned home. What a successful trip this was.

Since the trip to Carl Sandburg’s home was so much fun, we decided to plan another Saturday trip. We met again on a Saturday and went up to Charlotte, NC to visit Discover Place. This is a hands-on museum with lots of interactive exhibits. The kids had fun and then we walked around Charlotte for awhile. On the way home, we couldn’t find a picnic area and finally found a rest area that was being built. There was a hole near the parking lot that we could dump charcoal and we ended up cooking our hot dogs in the barbecue pit. It was a lot of fun too.

Many years ago, I taught in a rural area where many of my high school students worked on farms which was very different from the way I grew up. I decided my students needed to see the state capitol and understand how and where our state laws were passed. Luckily my husband went with me as a chaperone on the trip. When we arrived, I got off the bus to make arrangements with the bus driver about where and when to pick us up. When I turned around, my husband had a brown paper bag and the students were dropping things in it as they got off the bus. Then my husband looked at me and told me not to ask any questions. Over the years I have learned to not ask when he makes this kind of comment. The trip to the state capitol was wonderful and all of my kids were great. That night at home I finally had a chance to ask my husband what went on when we got off the bus. He said he remembered that we would have to go through a metal detector, and most of the kids had pocket knives on them. He asked them if they would drop them in the bag so they didn’t set off the metal detectors and he would leave it on the locked bus. The students got them back when we returned to the bus. Without saying a word to me, they all realized that my husband was saving them from being in a lot of trouble.

I have taken my students to an art museum and the state museum. They have also been to a rock quarry to talk about the jobs involved in that line of work. I never realized how big a hole that is made for this until our bus drove to the bottom of this huge pit. Everything on top of the hole looked like matchbox cars. I enjoyed taking my classes to factories and mills to see how things are made and husband and I still like to do this when we go on vacation.

When I worked for the county recreation department during the summers, we took kids to many different places like the national forest, farms, roller skating, bowling and other fun places. Unfortunately I was accused of being too strict when I wanted to count the number of kids going and the number returning. The girl in charge told me that she was the boss and it was her responsibility and not mine so I needed to quit spoiling everyone’s fun by worrying about this. Well, I’m really glad it was her responsibility the two times we returned home from two trips and ended up missing a child. That is when she put me in charge of making sure all of the kids were on the bus before we left!

One year I took two classes to Carowinds amusement park one year. The other teacher who was supposed to go with me had personal issues and my administration got her off our bus and would not let her go on the trip with me. They also decided that another chaperone going with us was not allowed to go. I immediately called my husband at work (probably in hysterics) and he is so good about calming me down. Since he is the boss, he told his office that he was going on a field trip with me because I needed another chaperone. His office manager’s daughter who was on holiday from college volunteered her and her boyfriend to come too. So along with the one paraprofessional with me, there were five adults going and I felt much better. Luckily I had thought about bringing two walkie talkies with me. When we broke up into groups, we agreed at a time and place to meet to return to the bus. Later that evening, we ended up missing one student so we got everyone on the bus while we hunted for the missing student. The walkie talkies were instrumental in helping us stay in touch and the missing student was rounded up.

As Mike Rush mentioned, always prepare for the “what ifs.” I tend to think of the worst thing that could happen and what I would do if it did. It is a kind of mental fire drill that I run through. It has helped me in many situations and I’m thankful I have learned to do this. It has helped make our field trips be successful. What do you do to prepare for your field trips?

Original image: 'Weird School Bus' http://www.flickr.com/photos/17021192@N00/1368677930 by: Kevin