reprinted with permission Ñ child care information

Child Care Information Exchange 5/01 — 39

Beginnings W

orkshopField Trips Promote Child Learning At Its Best by Sally Cartwright

Field Trips: Planning for Maximum Benefit, Minimum Risk by Susan S. Aronson

Coaching Community Hosts: The Other Side of the Field Trip by Susan Stacey

The Story of a Field Trip: Trash and Its Place Within Children’s Learning and Community by Olga Winbush

Field Trip Stories and Perspectives

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Child Care Information Exchange ¥ PO Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073-3249 ¥ (800) 221-2864

Field Trips

Photograph by Bonnie Neugebauer

Reprinted with permission Ñ Child Care Information ExchangePO Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073 ¥ (800) 221-2864 ¥ www.ChildCareExchange.com


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Child LearningAt Its Best

Children learn especially well when they act on their owninitiative in the pursuit of experience. Spark their innatecuriosity and watch them become alert for answersgained largely through firsthand, lively contact with theirimmediate world. It is inspiring to see childrenÕs experi-ential learning, for, when deeply involved, their sense ofpurpose, their joy in discovery, their intuition, imagina-tion, and insight are truly remarkable.

Field trips invite just such firsthand experience. Onewarm, sunlit morning when the tide was low, our threeand four year olds, my assistant, and I drove with parenthelp to Drift In, a wonderful, wide, low-tide beach of hardsand, which I know well. It has a few outcropping rockswith inviting tide pools. Lovely islands shelter this beachfrom the open sea, and the water is shallow and calm.Most weekday mornings, no other people are there.

When 12 pairs of small shoes and socks were lined uptogether on a convenient rock I said, ÒOkay, this is homebase. We grownups will stay here, so take off if you like,Óand the children scattered. They ran barefoot, twirled, andleaped along the sand. Soon enough, as we watched, theybegan to slow down and explore the bits of rockweed andseawrack, the crabs and small fish in the tide pools, mus-sels on the rocks, and even the footprints of the harborgulls, who rose from the beach when we first arrived.

Four year old Jason suddenly called from midway downthe sand, ÒHey, come here! This waterÕs not salt; itÕsfresh!Ó

ÒAw, go on! It canÕt be.Ó

ÒTideÕs coming in; it has to be salt.Ó

ÒItÕs fresh, I tell you,Ó Jason insisted. The children beganto gather around him. Some tasted the water that seemedto come from the sand. Others dashed down to the sea-water, and tasted the salt for comparison. No question; allagreed Jason had found fresh water.

ÒHow could that be?Ó

ÒLetÕs find out.Ó

They dug with their hands and actually exposed a small,underground stream. Soon every child was helping toclear away the sand. We adults watched. ÒPlease stayright here,Ó I whispered. ÒDonÕt interfere by so much as apeep.Ó We watched in silence, fascinated to see the chil-drenÕs mounting comradeship and group purpose. Theseyoung explorers dug out that stream some 40 feet, all theway up the beach, where they found a freshwater springthat was well above high tide. They were thrilled, notonly by their discovery, but by their extended hard worktogether and their group accomplishment.

These children were motivated by curiosity. They learned,not because any teacher informed them, but by their own,firsthand experience and plain, hard work together. It wasan unbeatable lesson in cooperation; the very heart ofdemocracy.

Sally Cartwright, with a BA from Cornelland MS from Bank Street College ofEducation, has worked over 50 years inthe field of education as teacher, admin-istrator, consultant, and author. Herthrust has been to understand the finestpossible learning toward the goals of arewarding adulthood and responsible,

democratic citizenship. She has taught all ages from matureteachers and university students down to three year olds,whose experiential learning, she says, is especially valuable fortheir later years in school, college, and beyond. She hasauthored eight books for children and numerous articles oneducation.

by Sally Cartwright


Another kind of field trip sends the children to a parentÕsplace of work. This is valuable, because the childrenÕscuriosity is raised at once; the child, whose parent wevisit, will often gain social stature and self-esteem; thetrip is usually easy to arrange; and such parent involve-ment is useful for understanding that particular learningprocess as well as the school. Parents, too, learn by doing.

Most of our fathers were lobstermen. TylerÕs dad had adock and lobster boat across the harbor. We went out inhis boat, hauled a trap with him, handled the bait, lob-sters, gear, and even took turns steering. A few days later,the children, on their own initiative, worked together tobuild a lobster boat with large, hollow blocks. Sharingimagination as well as their trip information, they cast off,motored out of the harbor, and narrowly missed a dan-gerous, underwater ledge. They hauled traps, weathereda frightful storm, and eventually brought home theircatch with shared pride.

Experience from the boat trip with TylerÕs dad alsoshowed up in the childrenÕs unit-block building and play.Bob and Johnny, with miniature lobster fishermen (carvedby a parent) hauled traps Òall morning longÓ (perhapsfive minutes) and then brought their boats to NancyÕsdock, and sold their lobsters (colored cubies) to LarryÕsgrocery store and MindaÕs hospital. When young childrenactively pursue and absorb experience and later use it inconstructive play, then you have true and effectivelearning.

Another planned-with-parents venture was our trip to anearby family orchard. The children gathered apples fromunder the trees and fed them into a small, old-fashionedpress, powered by a large, hand-held crank. The childrentook turns cranking the press, two at a time. How theyworked! A third child cut the larger apples into chunks, afourth added apples to the wooden hopper on top. A fifthheld a pitcher to the spout below. We had brought ourschool drinking cups. With beaming faces and occasionaldrippy chins, the children each consumed a precious cupof fresh and utterly delicious apple cider. Meanwhile,they still took turns cranking round and round untiltheyÕd crushed all their apples. They then voted andcheered unanimously to present the family with the finalquart of cider, which, I may add, represented endless,eager, affectionate cranking of the rattling, old cider press.Back at school, there was a rash of apple trees in thechildrenÕs painting and a call for cider at snack time. ÒYousee,Ó I heard a three year old explain to her mother,Òmaybe you think cider comes from the store, but it really

comes from apples, and apples come from trees, appletrees.Ó She paused, reflecting, but soon continued atspeed, ÒAnd when you want lots and lots of apples youjust grow lots and lots of apple trees in the field in back ofthe house, and itÕs called an orchard, and guess how youget the cider from the apples: you squeeze Ôem in thecider press and the juice, I mean the cider, comes outunderneath, and, and . . . . Ò Mom smiled at her child,and gave me a Òwhat next?Ó look. ÒThat,Ó I said, laugh-ing, Òis relationship thinking, and far more importantthan remembering separate facts.Ó

Let children find out for themselves through their ownexperience and chances are theyÕll see relationships thatmake sense to them and so lead to further discovery. It isa much needed introduction to good learning in kinder-garten and the later school years.

The above may sound as though teachers and caretakersneed only sit back and watch the kids learn entirely ontheir own. Of course, that doesnÕt work. Child-initiated,experiential learning requires both preparation and subtlesupport. Specific preparation for trips is describedelsewhere in this Beginnings Workshop, but below aresignificant, interactive considerations which also promotetrips and child learning at its best.

That we had in our nursery group the optimal number of12 youngsters with two adults was a distinct advantage.Where possible, divide your children who are aged threeand four years into groups of 12. Keeping group size atthis magic number is truly helpful, not only for trips, but for all child-initiated learning activities at this young age.

We need to build a steady, reassuring, predictable learn-ing environment for the children. Work and play areas,teachers, caregivers, and the succession of events in thedaily schedule (not their individual timing) should,where possible, be unchanging. Young children need toknow who and what to expect. Furthermore, keepclassroom arrangement simple: donÕt string the childrenÕspictures across the room; donÕt clutter wall spaces withadult-devised stimulation, such as photos, drawings,letters, numbers, flags, whatever. Avoid the jumble ofbright colors so often imposed on nursery children. In all, the room and its furnishings should provide a quietbackground for child learning activity.

We need to build an atmosphere of emotional and physi-cal safety. This means not only a well-designed physicalenvironment. It also means our employment of teachers


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Photograph by Bonnie Neugebauer

Figure It Out!: Have teachers explore whatchildren learned from their experiences at thebeach and at the apple orchard. Make a list ofconcepts, processes, and outcomes the teacherscould share with parents to illustrate the impor-tant learning that occurred on these field trips.With this practice complete, make a similar list for the next field trip planned at your center.Then, compare the two lists to see if the learningexperiences of the center-planned trip are as richas the ones from the beach and apple orchardfield trips. Discuss and reflect on the discoveriesof this process.

Relationship Thinking: The apple cider field tripresulted in a vivid description of relationship learningÑ connecting concepts that create understanding ofthe relational aspects of the parts (if you want cider,you have to grow apples in an orchard and press them,put it in containers, and can; then it arrives at thestore and is on the shelves). Analyze your schoolÕsplanned field trips for relationship thinking Ñ how thechildren might put concepts together to reach a higherlevel of understanding.

Self-Discipline: Cartwright indicates that childrenwho are involved in child-initiated, self-directedactivities on the backdrop of a predictable schedule inan uncluttered but well-equipped environment are moreable to address their own disagreements and solveproblems during the preschool years. Facilitate adiscussion with teachers about why this might be true. Use real examples of problems that teachers are having with children in their classrooms to applyCartwrightÕs ideas.

Considering Alternatives: This article talks about thetiming and choice of field trips and how both are usedto increase family understanding and commitment tothe school. Many schools make annual field trip plansbased on the calendar instead of the childrenÕs inter-ests, goals for parent involvement and participation, oremergent curriculum ideas. Although field trips cangenerate interest, parent participation, and emergentideas as well, the idea of these things driving theplanning for field trips deserves further consideration.Discuss with staff the possibility of changing field tripplanning from an annual fixed event, perhaps combiningsome fixed plans with some that emerge fromchildrenÕs discoveries or interests or from programgoals for parent involvement and participation. Imple-ment the plan that emerges from these discussions.

and caregivers with an abundant knowledge of childdevelopment, and who are themselves emotionallymature.

We need to build an atmosphere of caring and respect,of kindness, fortitude, integrity, and joyous, sharedlaughter. Fortunately, we adults are role models,because Ñ at least with young children, who are farmore physical than verbal Ñ such values must belived.

I recall a visitor who stayed watching for hours, andwho afterwards commented, ÒThe children are well-behaved, but I never saw you discipline them. Whenand how do you do that?Ó The truth is, I seldom had topersonally control child behavior, because the disci-pline of the learning experience did the job. Also, tosome extent, the children kept each other in line:ÒDonÕt waste time,Ó one child said to a momentarilyuncooperative partner. And, when building with unit-blocks Johnny knocked a fish pier askew, Larry turnedon him, ÒHey! What goes? We need your help, darn it!ÓAlso, my silent presence supported self-discipline,because the bottom line, although seldom openlyrequired, was that, as their teacher, I would at no timetolerate destructive or dangerous behavior of any kind.But mainly, IÕm glad to say, the childrenÕs keen interestin learning channeled their energy and purpose.

Other more subtle influences, combined with the aboveconsiderations, also supported good learning from ourfield trips. For example, our parents, some of whomwere able carpenters, turned an old fish-gear storagebarn into our lovely, modern, wood-paneled preschool.The children were proud of their parentsÕ cooperativework. Their joy in the school and in learning togetherwas contagious. The value of such feelings shared bythe children is beyond measure. Moreover, I knew theindividual children and their families fondly and well.Besides enhancing my awareness of each child duringand after our excursions, this caring knowledge helpedboth my choice and timing of our trips.

Summing up, IÕd say promoting these three items Ñwise trip planning; a supportive, educational setting;and cooperative group spirit Ñ is well worth the effort,because it assures the central value of field trips: theiroutstanding contribution to the childrenÕs firsthandexperience, to their finest education.


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Field trips can contribute positively to the quality of achild care experience. Whether the trip is a walk aroundthe block, or one that involves transport to a more distantattraction, field trips enrich the experiences that childrenand their caregivers share. For children, any excursion toa place they visit infrequently is a field trip. Nevertheless,field trips add challenges that require careful planningand weighing of the benefits against the risks. Parentalconsent for each experience must be given with fullinformation about what risks, as well as opportunities forpositive experience, the field trip involves. A pre-field triprun-through by staff is essential to making an inventoryof all aspects of the experience. Child care providers needsuch an inventory to plan for maximum enrichment andminimum harm.

For each part of the field trip, consider how you wouldsummon help if someone were injured, became ill sud-denly, had a toilet emergency, or threw up. Think abouthow the children can maintain their routines as much aspossible while on the field trip Ñ by bringing along easilycarried, healthy snack foods and water to drink, planningfor toilet stops and hand washing, and including howcaregivers will supervise children in public restrooms.

Supervision on a Field Trip

All field trips require close and active supervision fromadults who are involved, aware, and appreciative of thebehaviors of the specific young children for whom theyare responsible. Before going on any field trip, caregiversneed to establish and rehearse clear, simple safety rules.Teaching positive messages is best.

Especially when away from the usual environment, it iseasy for a child to slip away from the group, or to moveinto a space where caregivers cannot see what the child isdoing. Keeping track of young children during outings

requires more than just having the usual staff:child ratios.Plan to position caregivers as barriers between the chil-dren and potential dangers, such as the street or off-limitsobjects that are attractively located within their reach.Assign specific children to specific caregivers and set up atimed interval (i.e. every five minutes) when caregiverscount their assigned children for the duration of the trip.Linking up hand-to-hand or having every child hold ontoa rope to form a human chain helps with crossing streetsor walking through more challenging areas.

Developmentally Appropriate Field Trips

For school-age children, visits within the nearby neigh-borhood and to reasonably proximate sites of interest in the community are an essential part of a qualitycurriculum. Becoming involved in community improve-ment projects teaches school-age children about theirresponsibility as citizens. The developmental tasks of theschool-age child include learning about relationships androles beyond family and friends Ñ as neighbors andmembers of the local, state, and national community.Older school-age children who have learned rules ofresponsible behavior in new environments can engage inmany more challenging field trip experiences thanyounger children.

With parent consent, school-age children should partici-pate in a wide variety of off-premises activities. Of course,staff:child ratios must be maintained. Staff must manage


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by Susan S. Aronson

Field Trips:Planning forMaximum Benefit,Minimum Risk

Susan S. Aronson, MD, FAAP, is a pediatrician in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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the behavior and the whereabouts of the children at alltimes. Even the most responsible school-age child can betempted by reduced supervision to do something that isinappropriate and potentially injurious. When a seriousadverse event occurs during a field trip, the child careprogram may suffer legal liability and a damaged publicimage.

For preschool-age children, many good field trips caninvolve exploring in detail within the neighborhood whatmight be overlooked otherwise. Neighborhood ecologyfield trips can be as interesting, and even more engaging,

than a trip to a circus or zoo for younger preschool-agechildren. During a walk in the neighborhood, childrencan look for different colors, shapes, and textures in theenvironment Ñ checking flowers, birds, tree bark, clouds,shadows, leaves, and variations in the space betweensidewalk cracks. Visits to fire stations, hospitals, andfacilities that provide other essential community servicesare harrowing and of little lasting value for youngpreschoolers. Older fours and fives can get somethingfrom such visits, if they are brief and carefully planned tofocus on previous experiences children may have had.

For toddlers, bringing community helpers to visit is muchbetter than trying to take such young children intoenvironments that are not child-safe. An ambulance orfire vehicle seen up close is a thrilling experience, but one

that is not understood by a toddler. Seeing a policeman,fireman, EMS or other health professional in uniform andtouching some of their (safe-to-handle) tools is develop-mentally appropriate for preschool-age and olderchildren. Younger children may be overwhelmed andfrightened by meeting strangers. Be sure to check thatcommunity helper visits involve adults with skills ininteracting with very young children.

Think about potentially inappropriate exposures whenplanning field trips. For example, a trip to a dry-cleaningplant might be interesting, but exposure to solvents used

by dry cleaners may not be safe for children.Even popular petting zoo or farm exhibit tripsdeserve special planning. Recently, severalchildren became severely ill with a form ofbacterial infection that can cause severe kidneydamage, after visiting a farm where they didnot wash their hands after touching the ani-mals. Whenever children touch animals orplaces where animals live, prompt hand wash-ing must follow this contact to avoid seriousinfections.

TransportationTo and From Field Trips

Transportation to and from off-premises activi-ties must be arranged with strict attention tosafety. Plan walking trips carefully, with atten-tion to how each potential hazard will be han-dled. If buses, vans or cars are involved,consider the risks carefully. The leading causeof death for children is motor-vehicle injuries,either as pedestrians or as passengers. Checkout whether field trips involve crossing streets

or parking lots. ItÕs easy to have a mishap. Have a planfor child supervision during transport, including neverleaving a child unattended in a vehicle and being sure (bychecking for each child individually) that you have all thechildren getting into the vehicle and you have all thechildren out of the vehicle.

Except for older school-age children, one hour is a rea-sonable limit for the time children spend in a vehicle.Developmentally appropriate activities planned for theduration of the ride makes the experience much better forchildren and adults alike Ñ e.g. singing songs, playinggames involving searching, counting or guessing thename of an object using clues about its characteristics.With the technical complexity involved in correct use ofseat restraints for transport of young children, most


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facilities shouldnÕt consider using childrenÕs own carseats. The safest way is to have a vehicle already set upwith car seats that have been checked and adjusted foreach child by a certified car seat inspector. Trying toinstall each childÕs own car seat in a child care vehicle fora field trip is not easy. (The NHTSA technical training forproper installation of car seats is a four-day course!)Parents use a variety of car seats, each one with differentinstallation instructions. Studies of car seat installations infamily cars show that few are installed correctly. Some carseats wonÕt fit properly in certain vehicles no matter what you do.

Using a school bus for children who are not school-agerequires special arrangements. When preschool-agechildren are transported in a school bus, NHTSA recom-mends that each child be transported properly secured in

a Child Safety Restraint System suitable for the childÕsweight and age that meets the applicable Federal MotorVehicle Safety Standards, and that the Child SafetyRestraint System be properly secured to the school busseat, using anchorages that meet the Federal MotorVehicle Safety Standards. NHTSA further requires awritten plan on evacuation of pre-school-age children andother passengers, practice of an evacuation drill, carryingaccessible safety belt cutters, and informing localemergency response teams about the plans.

School-age children transported in school buses that meetcurrent standards are safer than children transported inmotor vehicles of any other type. Large school busesprovide protection by their size and weight. They mustmeet minimum Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standardsfor compartmentalized seating, emergency exits, roof


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se Beginnings Workshop to Train Teachers by Kay Albrecht

Safety First!: Have a small group of teachers correlate the list of things to consider mentioned in thisarticle with the field trip worksheet, p. 46. Amend it as needed to reflect the additional issues andconcerns raised by Aronson or identified by the teachers. If your school is not currently using a formalfield trip planning process, consider adopting one and thinking about how it might work in your setting.Add the results of this work to the teacher handbook to support teachers in planning future field trips.

Take a Trip Training Session: Aronson brings up the idea of neighborhood outings as an ideal place tostart thinking about field trips. Begin your staff meeting or training session by providing teachers withmarkers, large paper, collage materials, and other creative construction materials. Ask them as a groupto recreate the nearby neighborhood in miniature. The goal of this activity is to see how aware teach-ers are of the area in which they work. Then, to get teachers to consider the potential richness oftheir neighborhood, send them out, in trios, on a field trip to explore the neighborhood. After thetrips, debrief by making a list of possibilities for neighborhood field trips and identifying appropriateages of children for each trip. Finish by going back to the neighborhood in miniature created by theteachers. Talk about what they learned on their explorations, add additional detail to the neighborhoodin miniature, and consider how this new knowledge might be used to plan field trips.

Parental Consent: This article discusses informed parental consent as an important part of field tripplanning. What is informed parental consent? What are ways to get informed consent? Where canparents find out more about the experiences the child will have on the trip? These questions deserveconsideration by teachers and directors as they make field trip plans.

Emergency Simulation: Emergency procedures are routinely practiced in early childhood programs. Buthow often are field trip emergency procedures practiced? To bring these important procedures to life,plan a simulation to take place on your next field trip. Model this simulation after television emergencyshows, with full disclosure so that everyone knows what to suspect. Appoint children (supported byparents or other teachers) to fulfill different roles (throwing up on the bus, falling down at the fieldtrip site, getting lost) and implement the emergency plan for that situation. Follow the simulation bydebriefing staff and children about the experience.


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Field Trip Worksheet

Destination ___________________________________________________________________________________________________Coaching or collaboration ideas with staff at the field trip site _______________________________________________________Planned departure time _________________________________ Arrival time__________________________________________Length of time at destination____________________________________________________________________________________Activity schedule at destination ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Scheduled return time__________________________________________________________________________________________Name and telephone number of contact person at destination ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Names of staff members responsible for children (Circle those who will need orientation)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Names of volunteers who will also go on the trip (Circle those who will need orientation) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Date and time of orientation ____________________________________________________________________________________Itinerary (route to and from site) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Unloading and loading instructions___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Parking arrangements__________________________________________________________________________________________Location of emergency clinics along the route __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Supplies needed for the trip:■■ first aid kit, including allergy reaction kit ■■ cash or check ■■ plastic trash bag ■■ tickets■■ directorÕs business card ■■ camera and film ■■ coins for pay telephone ■■ maps■■ emergency authorization forms ■■ snacks ■■ cups and water or juice ■■ sack lunchesPre-trip activities ______________________________________________________________________________________________En route activities _____________________________________________________________________________________________Follow-up activities____________________________________________________________________________________________Thank you notes sent __________________________________________________________________________________________Actual departure time___________________________________ Actual return time ____________________________________Evaluation of trip:Was the experience a good one for children? ______________________________________________________________________Additional information gathered regarding destination_____________________________________________________________Things to remember next time __________________________________________________________________________________

File Materials: Copy of notification to parents ¥ Names of children participating in the outing ¥ Permission slips for the trip

Source: HeartsHome Early Learning Center, Houston, Texas

structures, fuel systems, and bus body joint strength. Ifthe child care facility arranges transportation with acontractor, be sure that the buses meet current federalstandards.

Planning for the Unexpected

Take a well-stocked first-aid kit along and be suresomeone is competent in first aid in every group. Have a communication device such as a cell phone to call for help. Assuming that a child may be hurt badly enough to need emergency transport for care, figure out how you will cover the care of the remaining children so one caregiver can accompany the child in the ambulance.

All adults on the trip (drivers, passenger monitors,chaperones, and assistants) need instructions in safetyprecautions, too. If any of the children have a chronicmedical condition that could result in an emergency, suchas asthma, diabetes, seizures, be sure those who are withthe child know how to handle the situation. Carry a mapwith the planned route and a route to an appropriateemergency facility marked on it.

Field trips can be fun and educational, but they requirecareful planning. Even when the field trip involvesactivities that the child care facility has done repeatedly inthe past, it pays to go over the plans and rehearse the whatif scenarios. Having something go wrong on a field tripspoils the experience and can have serious consequences.

Organization, Please!: Make future field trip planning easier by keeping copies of previous field trip work-sheets. Teachers can then use them to get ideas about the topics listed like pre-trip, en route, and follow-upactivities, loading and unloading instructions at different field trip sites, actual length compared to plannedlength, etc. Organize the field trips by destination so that they will be easy to find.

Pre-Field Trip Run Through as In-service Training: Consider pre-field trip practice runs as an in-servicetraining idea. Pair up new hires with an experienced teacher as mentor and send them out together on apractice run. Use the field trip worksheet as a post-experience evaluation and documentation of training byasking the new hire to complete the worksheet based on her experience during the practice run. Any unknownscan then be discussed by the mentor with the new hire, assuring that new teachers are fully briefed aboutfield trip planning, safety, parent participation, etc.

Pre-Departure Check Off: Set up a pre-departure check off procedure for field trips. Appoint someone toserve in the role of check officer Ñ perhaps a teacher who is not going on this field trip or even an adminis-trative staff member Ñ someone who will look at the plans with a critical and thoughtful eye, while supportingteachers in completing good field trip plans. A few days prior to the field trip, this person meets with theteachers who are going on the field trip to make sure the field trip worksheet is completed comprehensively,that all supplies and materials needed are ready to go or purchased, that permission slips are complete, etc.Establishing that a third party will check to see that everything has been considered will support teachers inlearning to be thorough in their planning and assure everyone that nothing obvious was overlooked.


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Your Name ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

CenterÕs Name ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Name of Field Trip ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Address ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Telephone Contact Person ______________________________________________________________________________________

Title of Contact Person _________________________________________________________________________________________

Telephone ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Field Trip for Ages_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Group Size Minimum or Limits _________________________________________________________________________________

Amount of Advance Notice Needed _____________________________________________________________________________

Best Time to Visit______________________________________________________________________________________________

Minimum Time Necessary at Site________________________________________________________________________________

General Description of Field Trip:

Suggestions: (Ideas for preparations or follow-ups, and your evaluation of the trip. Also, please add any other helpfulinformation.)

Source: Cambridge/Somerville Title XX Day Care Training ProgramContact information: Diane Levin, Wheelock College, Boston, MA ¥ [email protected]

How to Use Beginnings Workshop to Train Teachers by Kay Albrecht


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Coaching Community Hosts:The Other Side of the Field Trip

Early childhood educators are usually very organizedwhen it comes to arranging field trips . . . we understandthat the trip must be developmentally appropriate, mean-ingful to the children, and that the tour/visit must bephysically safe for them. We often know just who tophone and what to say in order to set up the trip.

But what is happening at the other end of the school/community collaboration? Although our hosts are usuallyeager to have children visit and have a great deal ofexpertise in their own field, they are not usually earlychildhood educators and may never have spoken ortoured with children this young. This sometimes becomesevident in the way the children are shown through afacility . . . no opportunity for hands-on exploration or toomuch talk Ñ often at a level above the childrenÕs under-standing. This can be frustrating for all parties involved:frustrating for teachers who were hoping for a moremeaningful experience; for the children who are some-times bored or fidgety; and for the host who is really trying hard to make this a success. How can we assistcommunity partners in setting up their part of the field trip? Is it possible (or appropriate) to coach them for optimal child benefit, personal satisfaction, andrelationship-building within the community?

In order to explore this possibility, we will examine threefield trips which vary in the level of coaching Ñ frompractically none, to a real partnership.

The Grocery Store

The first trip, organized by a student teacher, was her firstattempt at organizing a field trip. The event was plannedas an extension of the children's play involving a store,and exchange of goods and money. During a telephonecall, the store manager assured the student teacher that,ÒWe do field trips all the time . . . thereÕs lots for the

children to do here.Ó The student teacher also verified thatthe children would be able to visit behind the scenes to seehow the food entered the store from refrigerated trucks.Unfortunately, when the group arrived at the store, a newemployee had been assigned to lead the trip and hadnever done this before. Her nervousness was apparent,and although she was welcoming and valiant in herefforts, we could see that this was a difficult experiencefor her. She certainly showed the children every aspect ofthe store, but this was in the form of looking and talking,not experiencing in a hands-on way. Also, there was arushed feeling to the experience, as if our guide couldnÕtwait to get this over with! How could the teacher havehelped the host in this instance?

■ First, check to see who specifically will be giving thetour and what their previous experience and comfortlevel is with young children.

■ When speaking with the tour host, give examples ofthe children's play and explorations so that they arefamililar with what led to this field trip, and what thechildren might want to see.

■ Build rapport with the host. Even a 15 minute face-to-face conversation is better than none. The guide should

Susan Stacey is a head teacher at PurdueUniversity's Child Development LaboratoryPreschool. She has worked in the field ofearly childhood education for 25 yearsand previously worked in Halifax, NovaScotia as a director, instructor, practicumsupervisor, and program coordinator.She and her husband Brian recently

moved to the United States and live in West Lafayette,Indiana.


be able to depend on your support and collaborationduring the trip and might welcome you, the teacher,as co-host if they are at all nervous about the experi-ence. You know the questions to ask, and they havethe expertise to answer them or help children to findanswers.

■ Visit the location and suggest hands-on experiences.Find out what would be intrusive and what would beacceptable. In this instance for example, would it bepossible to to taste an exotic fruit, scan some groceriesor bag them?

■ Is there a space thatchildren could use foron-the-spot drawing torepresent what theysee? Your host mightneed an explanation ofwhy this is important,but may be fascinatedby the results.

The Bus Wash

This second example isprovided by a more sea-soned teacher at the ChildDevelopment LaboratoryPreschool at PurdueUniversity. Seeing thechildren wash their carsduring play, she arrangedfor the children to take aride on LafayetteÕs City-Bus to the terminal andthe bus wash.

In this case, she spokedirectly to the person whowould be doing the tour,and he described theirstandard procedure. The children would be picked up atschool by the CityBus, ride to the terminal where theywould be met by the guide who would come onto thebus to demonstrate various aspects of riding the bus.Then they would go into the terminal building to meetthe dispatcher and observe him working, go into thegarage to see a bus raised onto a hoist, and return to thebus to ride through the bus wash. This all sounded veryexciting and as hands-on as possible. When the day of thefield trip arrived, all of these events transpired without a

hitch and the children's play upon return was rich withexamples of this experience.

Is there room for coaching in a situation such as thiswhere the hosts are comfortable and experienced?Certainly!

■ Explain why experiences for children need to be asÒrealÓ as possible. Ask if the host could be on the buswith the children as they ride, and if the bus could beused as it would during a regular run. In this way, thechildren could Òpay,Ó ring the bell to stop, and still

hear all the things the hostwanted to tell them, suchas important safety issues.

■ Could the children usethe dispatcherÕs mike toactually speak to a busdriver?

■ Would the host mindanswering questionsthat the children hadthought of beforehand?

■ Again, is there time andspace for representationby the children on thespot?

The Hair Salon

This trip was organized byan experienced teacherwhose class had been heav-ily engaged in The DollProject in Halifax, NovaScotia. Heather and her co-teachers at Peter GreenHall ChildrenÕs Centre hadprovided dolls with noattributes for the children

to work with. The dolls were made of cloth and werecompletely blank at the beginning of the project. Over thecourse of the next several weeks, the children had builtthe dolls at their own pace, adding attributes as they saw fit.

Now the children were interested in hair, and their teach-ers wanted them to experience a hair salon. The teacherÕsidea was unique . . . Heather would approach her ownhair salon, arrange to have her hair cut, and have thechildren go along to watch. Since Heather already had a


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strong rapport with the people at the salon, and since theowner had a young child of her own, the hair salon wasnot only willing to have the children visit, but offered toclose the salon for a short time so that the children couldfully explore! In a conversation with Heather, sheexplains to me why she thinks they made this incredibleoffer and what happened at the salon:

ÒFirst, they knew me, and one of them had a youngchild. That really helped. They were so open. It was theiridea to close the salon, because people getting a haircutdon't really want 20 children running around! But oncewe were there, they kind of sat back and let us do ourthing. The children watched me get my haircut and thenwandered off to explore everything else. The staff at thesalon were fascinated with how the children went abouttheir explorations, and what kinds of things they wereinterested in. They observed and let the teachers takeover Ñ we knew the questions to ask the children tofacilitate learning; we knew what they were interested in;and the people at the salon watched how we workedwith these children. Some children used the chairs toride up and down. One child (with permission fromMom) had her hair washed. Some put in curlers, and,since the aesthetician was there, some had their nailspainted!Ó

Heather goes on to explain the before the trip coaching:ÒBefore the trip, I had explained the whole Doll Projectto the owner, and all the work the children had done sofar. So, she knew the background, and how much explo-ration and representation they had done, and what thesechildren were capable of. They were amazed at what thechildren did at the salon. They sat and drew what theysaw. I believe this was a learning experience for bothsides of the field trip. I think they will let other childrengo there. After the trip, the children drew detailedpictures of their experiences at the salon. We made someof these into a book and sent it to the salon as a thankyou. Now that book sits in the waiting area, and theyhave parents and children from our centre going therefor haircuts!Ó

Although there are not many businesses that can close inorder to have children fully explore, there are someimportant points to be noted in HeatherÕs comments.First, relationships are at the core of this successful trip.The owner knew Heather and trusted her judgement.Second, the owner knew in some detail the previouswork of the children and what the staff were trying toaccomplish by making this visit. They also understoodsomething of the childrenÕs capabilities. This is impor-tant, since those who do not have regular contact with


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young children might underestimatethis. Third, the teachers were able toactually facilitate the childrenÕs activeexploration at the salon, rather than theowners giving a talk or a tour. Thisenabled the teachers and children toreally focus on what the children wereinterested in, and allowed children toconstruct knowledge in a meaningfuland memorable way.

Points to think about when coaching thecommunity:

■ What does the host hope to accom-plish from this visit? How can youhelp them acheive this?

■ Do they need your assistance on theactual day of the trip? Can you dothis visit as a team, each using yourstrengths?

■ What kinds of examples of childrenÕsprevious work can you provide inorder for the host to understand thechildrenÕs developmental level andprior knowledge? Do you haveanecdotes to share? Photographs?Work samples?

■ If this is a first field trip for the host,how can you help them relax? Canyou visit the facility without thechildren to do a walk throughtogether?

Finally, be sure that you present yourselfas a willing participant who is there notonly for the children, but also to assistthe host. After all, when a field trip ishighly successful for everyone involved,there will be many return visits!


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to Train Teachers by Kay Albrecht

Special thanks for shaping this Beginnings Workshop to:

Mária Herczog, Hungary • Nilgun Aydogan, Turkey • Joan Matsalia • Betty Jones • Diane Levin

Tennant Kirk • Luis Hernandez • Kay Stritzel-Rencken • Lisa Jacobs • Susan Whitaker • Nadine McCrea

Creative Coaching: Take the work done in the trainingsession (see Take a Trip Training Session, p. 48) and workwith teacher trios to develop coaching ideas for the potentialfield trips they discovered in the nearby neighborhood.Identify a teacher/ambassador to each field trip site andspend the next few weeks or months collaborating with thesites and exploring the possibilities for visitation by childrenon trips. DonÕt forget to invite these new neighborhoodfriends to visit the school as part of the get to know youprocess.

Field Trip Nightmares: Every teacher remembers a fieldtrip that did not turn out like it was supposed to turn out!Have teachers share their worst field trip nightmares. Then,divide teachers into small groups to look over previous fieldtrip worksheets to footnote them with suggestions forcoaching and creating partnerships. Refer teachers to thespecific questions and strategies suggested in this article.Particularly, ask teachers to think of ways children can havehands-on experiences and list them in the footnotes on theworksheet.

Relationships Count!: Stacey indicates that the hair salonfield trip was a success in part because there was a relation-ship in place that could be leveraged into a good experiencefor children. Do teachers have such relationships that couldlead to exciting, appropriate, and hands-on experiences forteachers? How about parents? What about extended familymembers of enrolled children? Work with teachers todevelop a simple questionnaire that identifies potentialcollaborations for field trips that could be included inenrollment materials. Better still, engage the children inuncovering this information from their teachers and parentsduring an annual process (maybe with interviews by olderchildren during arrival and departure, home work wherechildren get information from their parents to bring back to class for discussion, or easy to complete questionnairesdistributed by children to teachers and parents). DonÕtforget to summarize the information gathered and considerhow to use it in future field trip planning.

Every Thursday morning, shortly after the children fin-ish their morning snack, one, two or several children willcome to me and ask, ÒIs it time to see the trash truck,Olga?Ó I glance at the clock and usually respond withÒYes, itÕs time, letÕs head for the blacktop.Ó Immediately,paint brushes drop, blockbuilding ceases, and the count-ing and sorting of plastic teddy bears is interrupted, asmy 18 kindergarteners leave their various morningactivities to rush out to the schoolÕs blacktop. We arerushing to see the huge trash truck make its weeklyround to our school. The children watch in excitementand complete awe as the trash truckÕs two-pronged liftraises the school dumpster off the blacktop, and pour the


by Olga Winbush

The Story of a Field Trip:Trash and Its Place Within

Children’s Learning and Community

Olga Winbush has been a progressiveeducator for the past 18 years. Herteaching experience includes working inearly childhood with two to five yearolds. She taught for ten years at Chil-dren’s Community School, a progressiveeducation elementary school in Van

Nuys, CA. Olga has a M.A. in Human Development and a Ph.Din Comparative Education and Social Sciences. She is currentlyon the teaching faculty at Pacific Oaks College. Olga is alsothe curriculum consultant for Children’s Community School.

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pReprinted with permission Ñ Child Care Information Exchange

PO Box 3249, Redmond, WA 98073 ¥ (800) 221-2864 ¥ www.ChildCareExchange.com

weekÕs load of trash into its rear. With a wave, the twotrash workers step back into the truck and roar down thestreet as my students wave and shout, Ògood byeÓ andÒthank youÓ at the top of their five year old lungs.

This weekly ritual of watching for the trash truck beganas a result of our school job. At ChildrenÕs CommunitySchool in Van Nuys, California, each class had, and stillhas, a school job, which they do as a means of not onlytaking care of the school community, but as a way build-ing a strong sense of caring and community among thestudents and teachers. It was the kindergartenersÕ jobeach day to empty the small trash cans located in theschool office, directorÕs office, auditorium, blockbuildingroom, and art room into the four larger trash cans, whichwere placed outside the school office.

As a result of this daily community job, the childrenbegan to ask me where the trash went once they had putit in the large trash cans. In order to answer their ques-tion, I chose three children to watch the large trash cansnear the end of the school day, to see exactly whathappened. They faithfully watched, and the next dayreported back to the class that four children from thefifth/sixth grade class took the large trash cans to theblacktop (where all of the children play outside games),and poured the trash into a really, really big garbage can.I informed the children that this really big garbage canwas called a dumpster. Well from there, the class wantedto know what happened to the trash once it was in thedumpster. Thus began our weekly ritual of watching forthe trash truck.

The children thoroughly enjoyed watching the schooldumpster being emptied into the huge trash truck everyThursday. After about three or four weeks of intenseweekly observation of the schoolÕs trash exiting the black-top in the big green trash truck, several children began toquestion where the trash men were taking the truck withour trash in it. I posed this question to the entire groupduring one of our circle times. The children began tobrainstorm ideas about where they thought the trash mentook our trash and what became of our trash. These weresome of the childrenÕs ideas:

■ They take the trash to a big building where they keepall the trash;

■ The trash men take the trash away from the school, sothey can burn it like my father burns the leaves thatfall off our trees;

■ The truck takes the trash to a big place full of dirt andthey bury it.

I wrote each of the childrenÕs ideas on a huge piece oflined chart paper, making a language experience chartentitled, ÒWhere We Think the Trash Men Take OurTrash.Ó This language experience chart provided the firstof many literacy activities which emerged from thisexpanding study of our trash. As a result of the childrenÕsquestions and ideas, I organized a trip to the local land-fill, which the schoolÕs waste service used, so the childrencould actually see where the trash trucks took the trash. Iasked them to brainstorm some questions, which theymight have had for the landfill. These questions, whicheach child dictated to me were also written on a largelanguage experience chart. Some of the questions thechildren asked were:

■ What is a landfill?

■ What do you do at a landfill?

■ What happens to the trash at the landfill?

■ Why do the trucks use the landfill?

Armed with our questions, we headed for the landfill thenext day. When our big yellow school bus drove up thehill to what appeared to be the top of the landfill, thechildren looked out of the windows with great excite-ment. As we stepped off the bus, the children weregreeted with all types of sights, sounds, and smells. Biggreen trash trucks, like the one that visited our schoolevery week, rolled up the hill dumping out trash, andthen proceeded back down the hill to collect more. Hugebulldozers and dirt movers moved back and forth, cover-ing the trash with dirt, making the hill we were standingon grow a bit smaller, as another hill was being formedbehind us from the mountain of trash and dirt.

We stood and watched all of this wonderful movementfor about 25 to 30 minutes, while our guide, one of thelandfill employees, explained to the class what we wereseeing, and answered the many questions being fired athim by the children. The children continually commentedon the smell of the landfill and the hundreds of seagullsflying overhead seeking food in the mountains of trash.The children also spoke to the trash truck drivers, askingthem if they liked their jobs and how much trash theypicked up in one day.

Our guide then took us back to the landfill office, wherethe children watched the two secretaries answering thetelephones and typing on the computers. The guideescorted us into a meeting room and gave us lemonade


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and cookies to eat, while we watched a ten minute videoexplaining the work of the landfill.

The guide also explained how the landfill was expand-ing into recycling. They were building a recycling unit,where paper, glass, tin, and bottles to be sorted from thetrash and then recycled. The children decided then andthere to share the importance of recycling with the entireschool at our next weekly all-school meeting. The guideanswered the childrenÕs final questions, and amidst thefond exchange of goodbyes and thank yous between thelandfill employees and our class, we once again boardedour bus for the return trip to school.

The next few weeks were filled with activities; thechildren represented their field trip experience within avariety of mediums. This integration of the field tripthroughout the class curriculum enabled the children tobuild further understanding of the relationship of trashand trash workers to their community, and it enabledthem to assimilate new experiences and learning intotheir already existing knowledge.

One of the first activities that the children participated inwas a language experience chart activity. In this literacyactivity, each child dictated what they had seen and whatthey had learned. This language experience chart formed

the basis for several ongoing literacy activities. Anotherliteracy activity involved a matching game which Ideveloped. In this game, the children matched cardswith words written on them, that I had taken from thechart, to the same words on the actual chart.

Some examples of the words that I pulled from the lan-guage experience chart to make this game were: trash,bulldozer, landfill, dirt, office, recycle, scale, seagulls.These words, and many more like them, became newkey sight words for the children to touch, experience,and use throughout their play. I also developed fivedifferent word matching games with words from thisparticular experience chart, where two children could sit together and play one of these trash vocabularymatching games.

Art became another medium through which the childrenintegrated their landfill trip experience. Upon returningto school, each child first painted a picture showing whatthey had seen and learned at the landfill. After eachchild completed their picture, they dictated to me whatthe picture was about, and I wrote their dictation on asentence strip and attached it to their painting. Eachchild also made a shoe box diorama depicting a part oftheir landfill trip. The diorama consisted of the childrenpainting the inside of their box to show whatever scene


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Create a Starting Place: What a wonderful example of helping children construct their own knowledge!But note, that the impetus for the whole project began with a shared commitment to community serviceby the faculty of WinbushÕs school. Consider this idea of sharing the caring for the community in anopen discussion about the range and type of responsibilities that might be appropriate for each groupof children. Explore teachersÕ ideas about incorporating such an approach in your school or center.

Reflection as a Springboard: Reflect with teachers the potential field trips that might spring fromcurrent emergent curriculum topics. (Directors who are in classrooms often as observers might well beable to suggest emergent topics from recent observations.) Or, ask teachers to bring childrenÕs port-folios to a discovery meeting where teachers review childrenÕs work samples, anecdotal notes andobservations, assessments, current play themes indicated in art work, etc., to discover topics and thefield trips that are suggested by the topics.

Thank You!: Saying thank you for wonderful opportunities and experiences is an important social skillfor children to learn. WinbushÕs children came up with a wonderful way to say thank you to the staff atthe landfill. The childrenÕs mural was not only appreciated by the landfill employees but also became apart of their environment when it was framed and hung. Encourage teachers to involve the children indeciding on an appropriate thank you. Get childrenÕs ideas before the trip and explore them again afterthe trip. Then, make sure that good ideas (maybe more than one) get implemented and exchanged.

from the landfillthey wanted to rep-resent, and thenmaking clay trucks,machinery, trash,and people to placein their scene. Thesedioramas wereaccompanied bydictations from thechildren describingtheir landfill scene.Each child sharedtheir paintings,dioramas, and dicta-tions with the rest ofthe class. The dio-ramas were alsoshared with the firstgrade class.

As a thank you, thechildren collabora-tively painted ahuge mural depict-ing the landfill. Thismural, along with adictated letter fromthe children, thank-ing the landfillworkers for allowingus to visit and learn,was sent to the land-fill office. The land-fill workers in turn,sent us a wonderful thank you and a picture showingour mural, which they had framed and hung on the wallof the meeting room where we had had our cookies andlemonade. Needless to say, the children were delighted.

A final integration of the landfill trip took place in ourblockbuilding activities. Each week with the unit-blocks,the class would build their community, which consistedof houses, the school, castles, space stations, otherfantasy buildings, and many of the trips we had taken.Some of the trips, which we had taken already werewalking trips to the fire station, the local barber shop,and the gas station. The landfill became an integral partof this blockbuilding community. The children madetrash cans and dumpsters for each building out ofcardboard and plasticene. Trash workers, in their smalltrash trucks which the children had constructed in

woodworking,moved trash throughtheir community tothe landfill effec-tively and efficiently.

The study of trashand the field trip tothe landfill turnedout to be a valuablelearning experiencefor these kinder-garteners. This studyof where our schoolÕstrash went and theensuing trip to thelandfill served tolink the children tothe wider commu-nity. The childrensaw how this serviceimpacts their lives;thus, it becameimportant to them.They also learned tovalue the trashworkers and thelandfill workers in ameaningful way,because they hadseen, touched, andcommunicated withthe workers.

This study broughtdiversity into the classroom. A part of the communitywas brought into the childrenÕs lives, where they couldexperience it in a very realistic and tangible way, and thechildren were brought into the larger community ofadults. As a result, the community could see that theiradult lives and their adult work is an integral and vitalpart of young childrenÕs learning. The landfill treated uslike royalty and our mural still hangs there today.

Field trips help the larger community to see that school-ing for children exists not only within the walls ofschool, but that young childrenÕs learning takes placeeverywhere. Through the integration of field trips intothe classroom curriculum, children are able to acquireliteracy, numeracy, further their creativity, and buildcommunity with one another in concrete ways that makesense to their young lives.


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Photographs by Subjects & Predicates


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Field Trip Stories and Perspectives

Mary MaugerLauriston Early Learning Centre

Melbourne, Australia

Field trips, or excursions, as we call them, are a veryspecial part of our program. We take the children out ofthe centre many times during the term, with each tripbeing an integral aspect of their research.

Sometimes this may mean it is only a small group of threechildren or so, maybe a larger group of nine or ten, orperhaps the whole group of 20. We have, on occasion,taken the entire centre of 90, but this is usually only onceor twice a year.

If it is possible to walk, we will. For example, in a study ofbridges, we walked to the railway bridge close by. Some-times we need to take a tram into the city to visit one ofour parents at work or to the art gallery or museum. Oncewe went in to see the Cathedral, as there had been adebate as to the existence of God and the children wantedto find out if he lived there.

Other times I drive the school bus, and this is great fun asthe children think it is most exciting to see their teacher asbus driver. The bus gives us great flexibility as we can visitour destination and, if we find we have some time left, wemight wander off to the river or a park for lunch.

We have also used the bus to visit the childrenÕs homes Ñthis is really successful as each child whose home we areall visiting gets to sit up front and direct the bus driver asto where to go. Once at their home, they have to explainthe house rules and generally act as host. It is a fantasticego booster for children and gives them a sense of place.

But the best thing about excursions is the interaction withthe community. Many adults are rather scared of childrenand do not know how to talk with them. They may beworried that if they do talk to them, other adults willsuspect their intentions, so they keep away. They some-times expect bad behaviour, too. So when they see childrenengaged with adults (teachers) and interacting with theirenvironment in a positive way, they warm up and begin to

talk to us. We have had many rewarding chats with peoplewe have met Ñ local shop owners, tourists in the citypark, train conductors, and office workers.

So the benefits are two way. The children are researchingfirst hand, the real thing, and the community is seeing thatlittle children are rich, strong, and powerful. It is a veryimportant way for us to make the childÕs voice heard.

George Stathopoulostranslated by Angela Xenakis

Field trips (walks, visits to historical places, entertainment,and combinations of all these) play an important role inchild care programmes in Greece. Field trips provide a firsthand experience to what children will see, hear, and con-struct before, during, and after the field trip.

There are no bad or good field trips. There is only goodand bad organization. If, during the planning stage of thefield trip, all factors are taken into consideration Ñ safety,logistics, interest of the field trip according to the age ofthe children, the objective and purpose of the field trip Ñthen the field trip will be a success.

With this in mind, here is one of the many field trips thatwe have organized:

A MORNING WALK WITH THEPRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN OF THE

CHILD CARE CENTRE ÒPOLKA-FROELENÓ

Greece has many beauties. The region of Attiki, surround-ed by mountains, rivers, seashores, and many ancient sites,offers ample opportunities for interesting walks. Walks orall day field trips are common in our programme.

Friday, September 29, 2000, our programme theme was:Grape Harvest ÐÑVineyard ÐÑTaste.

The objectives of the field trip was for pre-school childrento work as a team, to learn about orientation, to try newtastes, and for us to learn if the children had any fearsabout closed and dark spaces.



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orkshopThe children worked collectively, played many gamestogether in the schoolÕs garden, and had a chance to getto know each other as some of the children were attend-ing our school for the first year. However, for all of us, itwas our first field trip of the year.

The school buses were waiting for us outside the schoolto take us on a 45-minute drive to the vineyards in thearea of Markopoulos, which is very well known for itsproduction of good wine.

The field trip was organised in cooperation with thedirectors of the wine-making plant.

The vineyard was near an archeological site, which madethis a good opportunity to learn about our ancestors andabout the ancient God of Wine, Dionysos. The history ofour country is the oxygen of our children.

Once we arrived at the vineyard, the children weredivided into teams of four, and each child received abasket. The children started cutting the grapes and fillingtheir baskets.

With the help of their teachers, one group of childrenvisited the traditional grape crusher, and the other groupvisited the modern plant where they saw the grapesbeing turned into must.

We also visited the dark labyrinth where all the old wineis kept. With the help of their teachers they traveledbetween the never-ending aisles (an orientation game)and they heard the Òsong of the mustÓ from the largebarrels. The result was that none of the children fearedthe dark or the closed space. Once we reached light, asurprise of many tastes was awaiting the children. Thechildren had a chance to taste grapes, must, and variousother sweets made from must such as cookies. Thechildren had a day filled with experiences, games,questions, and learning. The next day the children hadthe opportunity at school to express their experiencethrough drawings and arts and crafts.

Sydney Gurewitz Clemensis an early childhood consultant, author, and workshop

facilitator. She is based in San Francisco, California,and can be reached at [email protected] or

found at www.slip.net/~teacher/.

For most young children, taking a field trip to a newplace is not a real learning experience. The newness over-whelms, and the trip to the zoo may be remembered as

Òthe place where I got a pinwheelÓ or Òthe place wherewe saw that dead bee,Ó rather than for the lions andtigers and spider monkeys we hope the children will see.

Why take a field trip, or for that matter, why set up anylearning experience? We want to help the children intheir basic task, which is making sense of the world.

So I recommend that the first time you take a trip, youphotograph what you see as you go, and immediatelydevelop and post those photos, discussing them over thenext weeks with the children, some of whom willremember one thing and others will remember otherthings, and planning for the next time: ÒWhat are youespecially looking forward to seeing next time we go tothe zoo?Ó ÒOh, Sam, you want to see that baby monkeyagain? Do you think it will be the same size? Remember,babies grow fast!Ó ÒAnd you, Tina, you want to see thehot dog place with the bunny painted on it? Who elsewants to see that place?Ó

The idea is to go back using both anticipation andreflection. This will make the second trip stronger, less ofa magic trick, and more of an experience we can relyupon.

On the second trip, youÕll make a special point to photo-graph Sam looking at the monkeys, and post with it hiswords about the baby monkey, and to take photos of Tinareturning to the hot dog place (because it interested her)and also with the animal she finds interesting, to help herunderstand that the zoo is also about animals.

The third time you take the trip, the children willprobably tell you what to photograph, and certainlytheyÕll arrive like the experts we all like to be.

Magela GuimaraesPrograma de Recursos Familiares

Jard�n La RondaMontevideo, Uruguay

Field trips are very common in Uruguay. Some of themare related to the units we are working on, others are justan opportunity to be in touch with nature.

We visit the zoo, parks, the beach (playing and digging inthe sand is gorgeous), the airport (we went into an air-plane), a farm, a supermarket (it is a magic experience togo to a place they usually visit and rediscover it withclassmates and teachers). In winter we go to museumsand the theatre (many plays schedule special perfor-

mances during school time). A wonderful experience is tovisit one of the homes nearby and talk about families andhouses.

One of my favorite field trips is going to a factory ofwooden toys. There is an old man who looks like Gep-petto (PinocchioÕs father) and he explains how the woodcomes from the tree and which tools are needed to buildtoys like trains and puzzles. Then children are givensticks, nails, and hammers so that they can build theirown toys. Children feel really empowered when they seethat they are able to make their own toy the same waythey are made at the factory.

Every Friday children take home a notebook with songsand poems learned during the week; it is basically a linkbetween school and family. When we go out for fieldtrips, we ask parents to write down what the childrenshared about the experience. There you can realize howmuch they enjoy going together in the school bus andhow they learn through their own experiences.

Now that we are back from the farm, who can tell mewhere we get the milk? ÒFrom the supermarket!!!!Ó

Jackie Legg

Guam is a Pacific Island US territory. The averagetemperature is 82 degrees F, year-round. That reallymeans that the evening temperatures are 75-80 degreesevery day and the daytime temperatures are 82Ð87degrees every day. There are two climate changes Ñ wet and dry. Otherwise, the days are sunny with tropicalbreezes.

So the most unusual field trip for the children at theNaval Base Child Development Center was to see snow.One of the local hotels made snow in the lobby in Decem-ber. There was enough to make a snowman. The childrenreally enjoyed touching it and making a snowball. Ofcourse it did not last long, but what a treat for thechildren to experience in Guam.

A typical field trip is to one of the islandÕs naturalresources. In August the children from Naval HospitalCDC visited Namu Falls. The waterfalls give an opportu-nity for children to see gravity at work with water, thepower of water in changing the shape of rock and land.

There was also a native weaver on site that showed thechildren how to weave with coconut leaves. All parts ofthe coconut trees are used by Chamorros, Guam natives.The shell is used to carve household utensils. The wood isused for building. The fruit is used for eating and leavesfor baskets, bowls, and decoration.

The children of Guam visited Waterworld Aquariumrecently to explore water as a habitat. The touch pool gavethem an opportunity to hold animals and plants that are abit scary when found at the beach. Most of the plants andanimals at Waterworld are available at the area beaches.

One of the most interesting field trip concepts IÕve everseen was in Denmark. There are Nature Preschools therewhere the children are outdoors all day. The weather isvery cold in the winter, but parents drop the children offat a nature park in the morning to spend the day outsidewith teachers. They cook their meals over open fires andonly go inside to use the bathroom. If a storm were toarise, there is a covered area the children have built out ofwood and rope. The children can be found in trees,streams, fields, and exploring the outside until parentspick up at the end of the day.

Agnes Muthoni and Michael Karanjastaff members at the National Centre for

Early Childhood Education (NACECE)in Nairobi, Kenyawith Diane Adams

In the city, children in nursery and preschools go to theanimal orphanage at Nairobi National Park or theNational Museums of Kenya snake park. It is accomplish-ed by taking the children by bus or in parent vehicles.

But most programmes in the country are part-day andthere isnÕt time for traveling about on field trips. Plustransportation is a huge issue in a country where mostchildren walk to school, sometimes quite long distances,accompanied by older siblings.

The best field trip IÕve observed here is probably the onewhere the children walked across the school compound towatch some workmen cut down a huge tree with a powersaw. Safety concerns alarmed the adults, but the childrenadored this real life adventure right in the backyard oftheir preschool in Embu, Kenya.


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