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First grade field trips


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also:

live performances that are appropriate for kids. Theater, concert. It's a great age to get them used to performance etiquette and to develop listening skills.

 

art museums. Keep it short and visit a few select paintings or sculptures; don't aim for a comprehensive visit. Some museums have programs for children.

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I like a combination of the everyday (or, rather, the every week)-- the supermarket, the library, the post office-- approached with the eye of a child and the intent to experience rather than rush through it, which feels like a luxury for all of us.

 

If you're fortunate enough to live in an area that has performances specially targeted to a young audience, as I am, some of my favorite and most memorable activities with my kids around that age have been going to the ballet/opera/concerts/theater. Our local high school and a nearby university are great for these. They're expensive for us and a special occasion field trip, but we can make them last by listening to recordings of performances and talking about the stories again and again.

 

During the week, anywhere they can be outside and have some measure of freedom is what I gravitate to. Places where they can both spend a little time inside a nature center and ample time exploring outside are ideal. Farms, too. Farms are great at this age, if you don't already live on one! I guess the best educational field trips ultimately really depend on making the best of whatever resources you have in your area, and finding out what kind of stuff they have for kids that age. (Treasure hunts at historic sites or state parks? A special Please Touch room in the museum? An opportunity to milk a cow? Library meet an author events? Etc.)

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Everything is educational. :-)

 

For my little six-year-old persons, we worked on Camp Fire badges; had zoo memberships so frequent visits; dabbled in the tide pools at Pt. Loma (San Diego area); earned four youth award badges at Sea World; picked apples in Alpine.

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We used the library a lot. In first grade, we often still did weekly themed storytimes. But ours also had so many educational programs constantly going- reading to dogs (reading practice,) music performances, science activities, art classes, etc. There is so much on the schedules.

 

We also did museums. I knew which ones had free days. Often there is one day a month free at some, or a cheaper evening at others or certain times of the year that one has free admission, things like that. We had a zoo pass or a children's museum pass. We like state parks and such, but do those more for vacations. They are too far for us for daily. But there are hiking trails and parks near us for nature walks and journaling. We also were always scouts and did things with our troop like eagle watches and different badges too. 

 

In the summers we did the public pool and swimming lessons and lakes on vacations and learned safety. 

 

We have also done a lot of things that our community offers: fire station tours, TV newstation tours, newspaper production plant tour and things like that. 

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This year (for my 1st grader we did the following but the ideas are endless):

 

Museums:  Historical since that was the time period we were studying this year:  Mary Washington's house, Ferry Farm, Mount Vernon, etc.  We also did an area museum that focused on Indians and if you can get a few families together many times they will do a homeschool field trip like they would with the schools.  That is what I do for many of these and they make them fun!  Also Science museums and children's museums!  Art museums too!! 

 

Farm:  a definite must for one time of the year.  :)

 

Theater- must attend one a year or even concerts.

 

Zoos- many types from Aquariums to walk through zoos. 

 

We also did a nature day one day each month with a local lady who works for the parks and rec.  It's been great.

 

 

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I figured I'd chime in with some memories of the school trips I took in kindergarten and first grade. I went to school in the mid-1970's, when "social studies" still had a "progressive education" bent. I read a book geared towards teachers highlighting how important field trips are to science and social studies, Out of the Classroom and into the World by Salvatore Vascellaro. This book is a continuation of the progressive education movement and tradition. Among the suggestions that he had for first-grade teachers were trips to the shoemaker and trips to a tailor.

 

When I was in kindergarten, we mailed letters to ourselves (mailed to our home address) and read books of how letters were processed by the post office. A trip to the post office would probably be a great activity to help fill in the gaps.

 

We went to a dairy, where they processed milk. There was a fake cow there, and they showed us how to milk the cow; mostly, though we saw how they bottled the milk. If you have any factories in your area, particularly food processing plants, that would be a great field trip. Ask if they allow children; not all factories do. Some factories allow no visitors at all. Over the years, my parents took either me or my siblings (or both) to a pretzel making factory, a corn chip factory, a Coca-Cola bottling plant, a brewery, the Harley Davidson plant, the Hershey simulated plant, and a GMC truck plant. I took my own children to some of those places and the Budweiser plant in St. Louis, which is a fascinating historic brewery.

 

While we did not go to a farm as a school field trip, it is a great idea. I have taken my children to various farms over the years--sometimes to pick your own farms, which they love (just don't stay too long so they get bored) or dairy farms (a little harder, as some dairy farms do not want visitors during milking times). In our current town of West Hartford, there is a city run farm that we love to visit.

 

When we lived in Dallas, we were members of the Dallas Museum of Art, mainly because members got free, underground parking. When it's 100 degrees outside, underground parking cools off your car to a "cool" 80 degrees! Totally worth the $75 a year. However, that got us to go to the museum often. They had a great children's area with programming that we often went to, but I also bought the children and myself sketchbooks and colored pencils and we would stop at a piece of artwork that we liked and sketched it. My son (who had a primate obsession) would just draw monkeys (and I never censored him or made him draw the artwork), but it bought us time to actually look at the art as that son has ADHD and without the sketchbook, we wouldn't have been able to look at any art at all!

 

My daughter has played the guitar since first grade, so for a while, we went to a lot of concerts at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Some of them were children's concerts, which are great introductions to classical music and the orchestra (some of those concerts had instrument petting zoos, where you could touch orchestral instruments). We went to "adult" matinee concerts (so as not to infer with bedtime), too, even with my son who has ADHD. The only disadvantage, according to my daughter, of the matinee concerts, was that the musicians are not dressed in black tie, but rather in suits. She missed the formality of it!  :laugh: We would get seats right by an exit so if my son would get noisy, we could leave easily, but we never had to leave early. He was fascinated with the music (it helped that we sat where he could see the musicians relatively closely). 

 

Now that we live in New England, we often go to living history museums and other historical sites. Some have great activities for children showing what life was like either during the colonial area or during the early years of our country.

 

I second the zoo or aquarium. I used to read to my children My Visit to the Zoo by Aliki. She also wrote My Visit to the Aquarium.

 

In the preschool that I work in (with a Reggio Emilia approach) one class just went to Subway to learn how they make bread, make sandwiches, etc. They got lunch there, too.

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I am not sure I agree with the just going places is a field trip mentality. My kids love learning more from people about regular places.

 

Our field trips for that age group:

Ice cream store: made a batch of ice cream, got to see the frige, freezer, blast freezer, taste waffle cone, then eat ice cream

Public Library: had a scavenger hunt to help learn the dewey decimal system, they love watch books come through the book drop

Pumpkin patch with hayride

Local wildlife resource center

911 Emergency Center

Fire Station: includes fire safety, touch a fireman dressed in fire suit, climb through truck, spray fire hose, play with body heat detector

Dentist

Children's Museum

Zoo

Aquarium

Botanical Gardens

Post Office

Pizza Joint

Homeschool Day at the Capitol

Grocery Store

Strawberry Picking

Blueberry Picking

Wildlife rehab center

Pet store

 

Edited by dragonflyer
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