Field Trips

3rd_time_the_charm

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Joined
Feb 3, 2024
There have been some posts on FB about field trips. What kind of school trips did you take?

Elementary- Nutcracker
Junior High - Cyrano de Bergerac play, Disney (with FBLA) and Quebec/Montreal with French class. All from North Carolina.

PSA: parents think long and hard. The stories I could tell.

Where did you go?
 
elementary-dairy, zoo, historical spots within reasonable distance.

jr high-only class associated field trip was for science class to the exploritorium/california academy of sciences but some school clubs did more (disneyland, some professional plays, ren fair).

high school-other than some professional plays/musicals our choir teacher somehow justified the only other class associated one i can remember (and how in the heck our english teacher managed to get this one approved i still cannot fathom) was to see 'star wars' at a big movie theatre in san francisco.
 
Most of the regular field trips were to museums and the science center. However, when I was in middle school there was a field trippers club we could join that did trips one Saturday per month. Since we didn’t have to be back in time for school closing, we could go farther away. Those trips were to historical sites in the state, underground caverns, or geologically significant parks. I loved the club trips!

We never did any kind of overnight trip at any point during my school years.
 


We are close to NYC so a few there. The best we going to see Evita with the Spanish classes on broadway in the 80’s. Times Square was very sketchy, we were allowed to go off for lunch, boys ran to the peep shows, lots enjoyed beefsteak Charlie’s, all the beer, wine and sangria you can drink. Oh and the king tut exhibit in 6th grade.
 
Great thread, my friend:hug:

I don't have the most positive school memories of my own. I do remember going on a couple of picnics and also to a new library. As an adult when I directed and taught preschool and school age kiddos, I tried to incorporate field trips and/or have people from the community come to our classroom. My own childhood wasn't always happy or positive. I loved all the kids God trusted me to love and learn from both at schools and at church, I pray to have been a good person to them and helped encourage their faith. I also wanted them especially the youngest kids to grow up having a positive community memory because you never know who a child will remember in years to come as somone who made a kind difference to them and/or someone they can turn to for help. Trips to children's museums, rhe park, a zoo, etc were some places we went to. As a camp counselor one summer, I accompanied kids to theme park too including one very hot day to Disneyland. Prayers all of you have good trip memories.
 
Elementary school: Different local theatre productions, a museum here and there. One time a historic "road trip" of our town. Lots of drama when the 5th grade trip to Ellis Island was cancelled and they quickly pivoted to taking us to see a move in theatres.

Middle school: Medieval Times, Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, the Shakespeare theatre of NJ, the yearly choir trip to Dorney Park, Trenton/a few historic sites in central NJ, plus the 8th grade trip to a day camp in the Poconos.

High School: Went to a few different museums and photography trips in NYC with the art club, remember feeling so cool when we walked into a Starbucks in midtown in the middle of a school day. Saw Rock of Ages on Broadway as part of a fundraising event for the Italian foreign language club, where we pulled into some random Italian restaurant and had dinner together before the show -- fun memories of just sharing some bread and laughing together at the table :)
 


I don't remember too many from my own school days. (A - I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and B - It was a looong time ago.) There was Mumford Village in the 4th grade, placing flags for Memorial Day at the veterans' cemetery (not sure which grade?) and maybe one or two for clubs in high school.

I went on more with DS as a chaperone, since we live in an area with a lot of options - the zoo in kindergarten, tide pool in 1st, a whaling museum in 2nd, Plimoth Plantation (preschool & 3rd grade) and the MFA in 6th.
 
Great thread, my friend:hug:

I don't have the most positive school memories of my own. I do remember going on a couple of picnics and also to a new library. As an adult when I directed and taught preschool and school age kiddos, I tried to incorporate field trips and/or have people from the community come to our classroom. My own childhood wasn't always happy or positive. I loved all the kids God trusted me to love and learn from both at schools and at church, I pray to have been a good person to them and helped encourage their faith. I also wanted them especially the youngest kids to grow up having a positive community memory because you never know who a child will remember in years to come as somone who made a kind difference to them and/or someone they can turn to for help. Trips to children's museums, rhe park, a zoo, etc were some places we went to. As a camp counselor one summer, I accompanied kids to theme park too including one very hot day to Disneyland. Prayers all of you have good trip memories.
I was thinking of you today🥰
 
In elementary and middle school, the whole class did one a year. I think I remember all of them:

In 1st and second grade, the aquarium brought animals to school
3rd grade was Jenkinson's aquarium
4th grade was the NJ statehouse and revolutionary war barracks
5th grade was the Camden Aquarium and Battleship NJ
6th grade was the Franklin Institute and Philly Art Museum
7th grade was Independence Hall and the constitution center
8th grade was the UN and seeing Lion King on broadway

Once I got to high school, there were no more school-wide trips. We went to Washinton DC every year for Model UN, NYC once for history class, and a cranberry farm for science class. They did host one or two international trips a year, but those were very expensive, and about 20 students went on them.

I just remembered seeing a four person play at the nearby college about WW2 in 8th grade. It was really bad.
 
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Growing up in South Jersey, for elementary school we went to the Philadelphia Zoo, Academy of Natural Science, Franklin Institute, Longwood Gardens and other local places I can’t recall. When we learned about Japan in 4th grade, one kid’s parents took our class to a Japanese restaurant for lunch.

In 6th grade our school district offers a week (M-F) in the Pine Barrens at a rural campsite with very simple lodging (bringing sleeping bags), to learn about plants, trees, wildlife, & telling stories of the Jersey Devil. The last day was spent on Long Beach Island learning about wildlife, sea life, sand dunes, the ocean, etc.
In 6th grade we went to a Phillies game with the safety patrol.

In our 8th grade Careers class we visited a GM manufacturing plant in DE.

In HS our Italian class was offered a student exchange program where we get matched with a student in Italy. We spend 10 days staying at their house, eating with the family, going to school with them, etc. Then later, the same person comes to stay at our house.

We didnt have a spare room and I shared a room & bed with my sister so we’d both be on the couch for me to participate. Also I’m a very picky eater and worried I’d be stuck with a lot of foods I don’t like. Plus it was expensive and I didn't want to put my parents through it all. I was a dumb teenager and not that they would have, but if my parents were willing to cough up a few thousand dollars for me, I wanted it to be for a car.
Years later, my mom was upset when she heard me discussing it with other family members and said I should have told her about it.
Oh well. Teenagers make a lot of poor decisions.
 
Field trips were mainly an elementary school thing for me. The ones I recall were a train ride to Hoboken and then a ferry boat ride, a dairy farm, Bronx zoo, Newark Museum, and Sunnyside (Washington Irving’s home).

Later on the only two school trips I went on were an overnight earth science one and a Spanish Club trip to a play and dinner.
 
Elementary school: Different local theatre productions, a museum here and there. One time a historic "road trip" of our town. Lots of drama when the 5th grade trip to Ellis Island was cancelled and they quickly pivoted to taking us to see a move in theatres.

Middle school: Medieval Times, Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, the Shakespeare theatre of NJ, the yearly choir trip to Dorney Park, Trenton/a few historic sites in central NJ, plus the 8th grade trip to a day camp in the Poconos.

High School: Went to a few different museums and photography trips in NYC with the art club, remember feeling so cool when we walked into a Starbucks in midtown in the middle of a school day. Saw Rock of Ages on Broadway as part of a fundraising event for the Italian foreign language club, where we pulled into some random Italian restaurant and had dinner together before the show -- fun memories of just sharing some bread and laughing together at the table :)
Our yearly choir trips were to Hershey park.
 
In elementary school, I know there were others, but I only remember going to a science center, Dinosaur State Park, and Sturbridge Village. The only one in middle school was our 8th grade class trip to DC (from CT). In high school, we just had our senior class day trip to Riverside Amusement Park (now Six Flags New England).
 
We sometimes got invited to participate in the public schools field trips, but the cost was too high for some of the families in our group. We never went on any of them due to that.
 

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