Like many of you, a few years ago, our field trip money was CUT!!! No field trips!?!? Boooooooo!!!! Luckily, we have our field trips back this year! But, if you don't, don't worry!!!! DON'T let it stop you! There are sooooo many ways to BRING the "field trips" to your kids for FREEEEEE!
What's the big deal?? Why are field trips important, you might ask?? Because kids need to have REAL LIFE experiences!!! The authentic experiences are the ones that stick. Field trips bring all of the learning together and make it real and more genuine. That's what the kids will remember. It's so much more meaningful that way!!!
I LOVE bringing those experiences into my classroom every chance I get!! How do you do it with NO budget??? Well, you'd be surprised what you can get when you tell people you are a teacher! ;)
I've always felt like if you do a pumpkin unit, YOU NEED a pumpkin patch!!! Well, when I started here, the other teacher said that we get one field trip and we take it at the END of the year! So, since we couldn't GO to a pumpkin patch, I brought a pumpkin patch to my kids and I've been doing it ever since.
I always find someone to donate our pumpkins! (I live in IL, so there are PLENTY of farms and fields!) You see a pumpkin field, you go ask. Usually people have waaaaay more pumpkins then they could ever use. So, they are happy to donate to us. I just get little pie pumpkins and set them all outside. If it's muddy, we do at least part of the activities on the blacktop :) Then, after we pick our pumpkins, we sit on haybales (that we usually borrow from local farmers) and have rice crispies and apple cider (that are donated by the parents)!
So, see!!! ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!! You just have to do a little work finding everything, getting it to school and setting it all up. But, man!! Look how much fun! They LOVE it!!! The kids are obsessed with pumpkins for WEEKS after this! ;)
O.K. So, this next one is about as close as you can get to real life...but without a farmer or a real cow! Ha!!! We do this during our Farm Unit!
First we meet Farmer Jack and he teaches us how to milk a cow!! (on Youtube)
Then, I bring out our cow!!! She is just drawn on paper and laminated :) But, I fill a surgical glove with a bit of white tempra paint and water and attach it with a string. Poke a whole in the end of one of the fingers with a pin and you're ready to go! The kids HAVE TO use the same technique that farmer Jack taught them. If they don't do it that way, the "milk" will NOT come out....it will go back up into the "udder".
Here's a video of one of my kiddos milking!! So fun!
For our Wild West unit, after learning all about Cowboys, we invited a local "Real Life" cowboy to come to our class!!!! He showed us his saddle, his tools and what he has to wear when he is in a rodeo. He also showed us all of his big belt buckles that he had won from riding!! (Again, this was a man that had graduated from our school district several years back and was happy to donate his time to us!! Totally free!)
Every February, our local dentist and hygienists schedule a time with us to come and talk to our Kindergarten classes about Dental Health and they do such an amazing job! This is the PERFECT wrap up to our unit!!! And, you guessed it! Totally Free!!! I bet your local dentist would do it too! Just ask!!
Every February, our local dentist and hygienists schedule a time with us to come and talk to our Kindergarten classes about Dental Health and they do such an amazing job! This is the PERFECT wrap up to our unit!!! And, you guessed it! Totally Free!!! I bet your local dentist would do it too! Just ask!!
Sometimes, on a nice spring day, the kids just need a change of scenery!! Why not take them outside for a lesson?? Here we are during our garden unit around Earth Day planting our terrariums!!
And, this one is from St. Louis Children't Hospital!! We are sooooo blessed to live just 30 minutes from some of the BEST rated hospitals in the entire country! Everything that St. Louis Children's Hospital does is pretty great! And this program, Safety Street is NO exception!!! It is an absolutely amazing, interactive program that show kids how to stay safe and handle real life situations! And, the best part is it's TOTALLY FREEEEEEEEEEEE and they bring it to any IL or MO school in the Metro area!
Safety Street features an interactive, life-sized cityscape to help children learn important safety lessons! All they need is a big area to set it up....so, the gym might be off limits for a day or two.
You can learn more about Safety Street HERE!!! And, if you'd like to see more pictures, you can read my previous blog post about it HERE!!
Don't live in the St. Louis Area? It wouldn't hurt to research and find out if any hospitals near you have similar programs offered!
Don't forget to hop over to Deedee's blog to see what others have to say about field trips!! Just click on the image below!
Wow! You are a genius! I love how you bring attention experiences to them with the help of donations and volunteers.
ReplyDeleteI love your "pumpkin patch"! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAmanda
A Very Curious Class
Oh Katie!!! I love your pumpkin patch!! I wish we lived where they could grow pumpkins instead of in a desert. But, my son lives where they can grow some....I wonder if I can talk them into donating some?? Hmmmm, that would be a good reason to head up to Idaho and see my grandchildren. We do however have lots of cowboys and are lucky to have them in our schools in January (Cowboy Poetry time).
ReplyDeleteTerri Izatt
KinderKapers