agenda for field trip

The Ultimate Field Trip List for Teachers

• By Mandy Neal
• Holiday/Seasonal , Organization , Uncategorized

Field trips are the highlight of our students’ school year and offer them a change of scenery. But behind the scenes, we are the conductors juggling various factors to ensure a smooth and successful field trip. Preparing for the field trip, executing it, and culminating the experience takes a lot of organization! After years of experience, I’ve compiled a list of tips to help you plan a successful field trip.

Pre-Trip Preparation

1. research your destination.

Understanding the goals of your trip and how you can incorporate an educational component is essential. This includes researching the venue’s educational value and potential safety concerns. Contact the site to confirm availability and any rules or requirements for visitors.

2. Permission Slips

Compile and distribute permission slips with clear instructions. Ensure all necessary contact and medical information is included and that parents fully understand the nature of the trip.

3.  Keeping Track of Permission Slips and Money

After permission slips are sent home, they will begin to trickle back in. 

Use a student checklist to track who has returned their permission slip and money. Keep the money and permission slips in a safe place. 

4.  Transportation Arrangements

Book transportation well in advance with your school district. Determine how many buses are needed to transport all the students and teachers. Take into consideration how many students you will have per seat.

Will students bring their lunch, have a school lunch, or eat at a destination? 

Once lunch has been determined, if students bring their own lunch, you will need to devise a plan to transport the lunches. Taking a cooler to keep food and drinks cold may be required. 

6.  Emergency Protocols

Develop a comprehensive plan for potential emergencies, including a schedule for check-ins and contacts. If you have parents attending who are serving as chaperones, share the plan with them and ensure everyone carries a list of important contacts.

Packing and Preparing for Success

7.  teacher essentials.

A bag or backpack to carry all your stuff, a whistle, and contact numbers for the school secretary and principal nurse. 

8.  First Aid Kit

Carry a well-stocked first aid kit. Be prepared to handle common field trip injuries and ensure someone on the team is trained in basic first aid.

9.  Medication Documentation

Bring a list of students with medical needs, along with their medications and instructions. You may need to administer medication during the trip, so have a clear protocol in place.

10.  Dietary Requirements

Collect information on any student dietary restrictions and plan meals accordingly. Bring non-perishable snacks in case of delays.

11.  Clothing Considerations

Remind students to dress appropriately for the weather and terrain of the destination.

12.  Communication Devices

Carry fully charged cell phones or walkie-talkies for easy communication. If you are going to an area with poor reception, consider using other forms of communication, such as whistles.

13.  Roll Call Sheet

Prepare a roll call sheet with the names of all students. Do a roll call before leaving the school and leaving the field trip destination to ensure everyone is accounted for.

14.  Field Trip Itinerary

Have a detailed itinerary outlining the trip’s timing—from departure to return. Share this with students, parents, and administration, and review it before and during the trip to maintain schedule adherence.

On the Day of the Trip

15.  grouping plans.

Decide on the group sizes and designate leaders for each. Ensure each group has a chaperone and has received the necessary materials and guidance.

16.  Student Expectations

Review behavioral expectations with the students, emphasizing the importance of respecting the venue, abiding by the safety rules, and listening to the instructions of their teachers and chaperones.

17.  Bus Ride

On the bus ride to and from your destination, monitor your students’ behavior and voice levels so that the bus driver can safely transport them.

18.  Sign-out sheet

If your school allows students to leave the field trip destination with parents, have a sign-out sheet prepared for parents to sign their students out.

19. Thank-You Notes

Show appreciation to the chaperones and any staff or guides at the field trip site. This strengthens the school’s relationship with community partners and sets an example for students to express gratitude.

Optional Items to Consider

• Name tags/lanyards for students
• Matching school shirts
• Remind students they can bring spending money.
• For you, get a good night’s sleep the night before!!

Conducting a successful field trip takes time, effort, and a lot of planning. With this checklist, you’re well-equipped to lead your students on an adventure that will impact their learning and memories. 

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How to Plan an Educational Field Trip for Students

Features , Planning Advice

We help you craft a fun and engaging educational student itinerary packed with exciting learning in real-time settings outside the classroom

As an educator or trip organizer, educational field trip planning can be a rewarding experience if you have a clear roadmap and tips for creating an engaging itinerary. It’s crucial to design field trip itineraries that not only offer fun activities but also provide intellectual stimulation and opportunities for experiential learning. This approach fosters a deeper understanding and retention of knowledge among students.

Discover more amazing resources for student travel planners and educators when you  Subscribe for FREE  to Student Travel Planning Guide today.

By strategically planning your field trips, you can create a balance between educational value and exciting adventures. This approach ensures that students not only enjoy the trip but also gain maximum educational value, turning field trips into immersive and memorable learning experiences.

Here is a guide on how to craft student itineraries for field trips that are not only entertaining but truly enriching, intellectually stimulating and unforgettable.

Connect Student Field Trip Activities to the Curriculum

One of the most impactful strategies to boost the educational value of a school field trip is to integrate the itinerary with your classroom curriculum. By planning your field trip in conjunction with your curriculum, you ensure that the trips content directly complements what students are studying, making their learning experience more comprehensive and meaningful.

Planning your curriculum and educational field trips together allows you to seek out destinations, landmarks, museums, parks, and experiences that directly relate to and expand upon what students are learning in the classroom. Not only are you saving yourself time by planning both together, but your curriculum can also provide a crystal-clear map for topical and sensical field trip planning.

For example, a history class studying the American Revolution will get far more educational value out of a trip to Boston steeped in significant historical sites versus a more generic itinerary that visits a history museum, which provides little experiential components.

Example itinerary for student groups:

Day 1: Start at the Boston Massacre site for an immersive historical reenactment. Then, visit the Old South Meeting House, the staging ground for protests like the Boston Tea Party. End the day at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, where you can participate in interactive multimedia experiences.

Day 2: Walk the famous Freedom Trail, passing sites like the Paul Revere House, Old North Church and Bunker Hill Monument. Tour Harvard University’s historic colonial-era buildings. Have lunch in America’s oldest public park, Boston Common.

Day 3: Travel to Lexington & Concord’s Minute Man National Historical Park, witnessing the hallowed grounds where the first Revolutionary War battles occurred. Tour the Hancock-Clarke House where Hancock and Adams took refuge. Conclude at Emerson’s house and Old Manse, two historic Concord sites intertwined with the Revolutionary era.

By carefully curating a field trip itinerary that directly aligns with their curriculum, students can experience history in a tangible way. This reinforces their classroom learning and creates lasting memories that will solidify their understanding of this pivotal era in American history.

Integrate Reflective Learning for Students

Students absorb and retain more information through experiences, and reflection is a key component of experiential learning. Consider building time into the itinerary for students to reflect on what they’re seeing, doing, and learning while on the trip, while the information and experiences are still fresh.

This could take the form of journaling prompts, small group discussions, or a creative activity like drawing or photography accompanied by student impressions. Encouraging students to actively process their experiences in real-time with an activity will help them solidify what they’ve learned and integrate it into their classwork later.

Include Cultural Immersion on an Educational Field Trip

Travel offers students incredible opportunities to experience different cultures firsthand. Whenever possible, consider including authentic cultural activities or interactions with the local community on your itinerary.

This could be a hosted meal at a local family restaurant, a neighborhood walking tour led by residents, or a school visit to meet and engage with local students. Cultural immersion fosters greater global understanding and social skills in all facets of a student’s life.

Perhaps there are cultural landmarks or museums showcasing artifacts related to the area and its people past and present. Many places of cultural significance have regional museums that provide guided tours and lectures for classes, providing an enriching experience for students while supplementing their classroom education.

Plan Hands-On Workshops for Students

Lectures and tours certainly have their place on class field trips, but students learn best by doing and engaging their left and right brains at the same time. Look for interactive workshops and classes relevant to the trip’s educational themes.

• For a marine biology-focused itinerary, check if the local aquarium offers a dissection lab for high school groups.
• Culinary arts students will gain much from a hands-on cooking class in regional cuisine for grades 8-12.
• At Plimoth Patuxet Museums in Massachusetts, students can partake in Wampanoag Workshops, learning traditional skills like hide tanning, pottery, and gardening directly from Native educators. They offer workshops for pre-k to college students .
• The National World War II Museum in New Orleans features many STEM workshops and student programs for multiple grades. They also provide Field Trip Plus for an immersive 45-minute, museum educator-led interaction for student groups grades 3-12.
• At the Museum of Science in Boston, students can participate in hands-on engineering workshops where they design, build, and test prototypes like wind turbines, ensuring an immersive STEM learning experience.
• George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate offers an interactive Colonial Classroom program, allowing students to step into the roles of students from the 18th century, practicing penmanship with quill pens and exploring early American curriculum.

The more hands-on the experience, the more impactful and memorable the learning is for your students. These are just some examples of the myriad workshops available for student groups on field trips.

Tap Local Experts for Student Groups

Enlisting local experts as speakers, guides or facilitators can elevate an itinerary’s educational quality. Reach out to university scholars, scientists, artisans, and community leaders at your destination who can share their niche expertise with students. A great place to start is your destination’s local visitors bureau.

Some examples might include:

• A geologist’s guided hike that will illuminate more than just the typical sights.
• An oceanographer could do a hands-on workshop at the lab or on the beach where children can interact with wildlife and ask questions.
• An archaeologist may organize a mock dig site and bring artifacts for students to examine while teaching excavation and preservation techniques.
• A meteorologist might conduct an interactive workshop on weather and atmospheric science.

Leave Room for Student-Led Discovery

While it’s good to have a thorough student itinerary, be sure to also give children some freedom to follow their own curiosity. Unscheduled time to explore a museum, gallery or neighborhood lets students delve into what interests them most.

Having a choice in their own learning path boosts engagement and takeaways. If a child or group of children show a keen interest in sharks while at the aquarium, have a parent or teacher stay with them for some extra time at the shark exhibit to ask questions and interact with the sharks along with the staff.

Choose Suppliers with an Educational Ethos

The vendors and suppliers you select can greatly influence a student itinerary’s educational value. Seek out accommodations, restaurants, tour providers and activity partners that share your learning objectives. Many vendors and suppliers offer educational programs or content designed specifically for student groups. Ask about customized classes or tours aligned with your curriculum.

With a learning-centric approach to student itinerary design, class trips become more than just a fun getaway—they’re a meaningful extension of the classroom. Educational travel helps students develop critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, a broadened worldview and curiosity that will serve them well at school and beyond for years to come.

Did you enjoy this content? For more tips on crafting impactful student itineraries, Subscribe for FREE to our Student Travel Planning Guide today.

By Ashley Dale, Contributing Writer and Homeschooler

Header photo: Big Bus Tour courtesy of PHLCVB/K. Huff

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How to Plan a Class Field Trip

Last Updated: March 11, 2024

This article was co-authored by Catherine Palomino, MS . Catherine Palomino is a former Childcare Center Director in New York. She received her MS in Elementary Education from CUNY Brooklyn College in 2010. This article has been viewed 204,689 times.

A field trip can be a very positive experience to move students outside the classroom into the wider world. There are so many learning experiences that can take place outside of the traditional classroom setting, and conducting a field trip can be a fun and informative way to administer curriculum materials. Field trips can range from day trips to a museum, art gallery, or park to an overnight camp that requires more planning. Regardless of the type of trip you want to facilitate, make sure that there are clear learning objectives. In order to plan a successful class trip make sure that you obtain all necessary permissions and that your students, chaperones, and teachers are adequately prepared. [1] X Research source

Selecting an Educational Site for a Field Trip

• You will also want to clarify a date with the principal in order to ensure that the class trip does not conflict with any other mandatory school activities.
• Ask about emergency protocols while you’re on the trip. Review the school’s guidelines so you can be prepared.

• Learning outcomes of the trip.
• Key vocabulary that will be used and taught during the trip.
• Major concepts that will be taught.
• Can the learning objective be accomplished without a field trip?

• For instance, an overnight ropes course to learn cooperation is not suitable for students in the second grade.
• Young children will not be able to physically complete a ropes course and they are too young to attend an overnight trip.

• Grocery store: Perform a nutritional scavenger hunt. Ask students to read food labels and create a weekly meal plan that would adequately meet their nutritional needs.
• Local restaurant: Learn to cook a nutritional and well-balanced meal at a local restaurant.
• Farm in the area: Visit a farm and learn how livestock are raised, fed, and distributed to customers.

• You should also ask the site how many students they can accommodate. You want to make sure that they can handle the size of your group.
• Ask about areas for seating and how many restrooms there are.
• This additional information will help you to narrow down your list and ultimately select a site.

• Choose a local site to cut down transportation costs.
• Find a site that allows students to bring their own food and snacks so they don’t need to spend money on lunch or food.
• Inquire if the site offers any discounted group or student rates.
• Determine if you need to plan an agenda while you’re there or if a tour will be provided.

• Once you have officially selected a destination, you should get the name, phone number, and email address for a contact person at the site. This will make it easier to book the trip, once you have received the necessary approval.
• If the trip will be over the course of multiple days, you will need to make appropriate overnight arrangements. Camping is an excellent way to provide students with a positive educational experience, but alternative indoor sleeping arrangements are frequently made as well. A tent campground with one or more group campsites, cabin, dormitory, sleeping hall, or hotel that accommodates three students per room would be most ideal for overnight school trips.

Obtaining Permissions for the Field Trip

• This will vary between school boards. Talk with the principal or a senior colleague to determine the exact requirements associated with taking a class on a field trip.

• Date and location of field trip as well as all transportation arrangements.
• Educational purpose of the field trip.
• Cost associated with the trip and date the money needs to be submitted.
• Information about meal arrangements.
• Trip schedule or list of activities for the day.
• Place for parental signature and contact information.

Planning the Logistics of the Field Trip

• Regardless of the type of bus you use, you will need to clearly communicate to the driver the proper addresses and times for pickup and drop off. You should also provide the number of people traveling, including chaperones and teachers.
• You should also introduce yourself as the class leader on the day of the trip and thank the bus driver for their work. Exchange numbers to stay in contact in case there are any changes on the day of the trip.

• Explore some of the exhibits and activities that your class will be visiting in order to come up with ideas for pre-trip classroom activities.

• Once you have acquired enough adult chaperones, you should provide them with any behavioural guidelines and a detailed schedule for the trip.
• Do not assume that adults will intuitively know what is expected of them.
• Schedule a meeting with the chaperones before the trip to explain their roles, responsibilities, and any emergency protocols.
• If there are too many volunteers for chaperones, use a lottery system to select the number you need. If you have too few, reach out to parents or the school’s PTA.
• Ask chaperones to carry a cell phone so you can easily contact them on the day of the trip.

• Signed permission forms.
• Student medical and insurance information.
• Parent/guardian emergency contact information for that day.
• Extra money in case of an emergency.
• Checklist of all students and chaperones in attendance.
• List of students who must take medication during the trip

• The school office: Provide a list all of the children attending the trip, the children absent that day, the children who will remain at the school and their location, and a cell phone number where you can be reached.
• Chaperones: Provide a comprehensive class list, a list of each subgroup, and the name of the supervisor for each group.
• Teachers: Provide a master list of all the groups, all the buddy partnerships, the parent contact information, the student health and insurance information, and the school phone number.
• Have attendance sheets ready so the staff can take head counts during the trip.

• For example, you could have them complete an online scavenger hunt by researching a similar topic to that being covered on the class trip.
• Be creative and try and come up with a fun activity for these students.

Preparing Your Students for a Field Trip

• Have your students study the habitats of a variety of animals they will see at the zoo.
• Then ask them to record the features of the habitats that the zoo provides for the same animals.
• Have them compare the natural habitats to the constructed zoo habitats to see if they are getting a similar type of lifestyle.

• This will also give you the opportunity to provide any instructions, which will save time on the day of the trip.
• You could also brainstorm questions that the class may want to ask of the instructors at the site. Alternately, you could teach your students how to ask thoughtful questions.

• Outline expected behaviour during transit as well. For example, students must remain seated while on the bus and should not distract the bus driver.

• Depending on the type of trip you may want to establish a buddy system or seating plan for safety purposes.
• You could also divide the class into smaller groups with adult supervisors and chaperones. This will make it easier to monitor student behaviour.

• The destination, with a physical description of the site.
• Detailed list of the planned activities.
• Any special preparations the parents and students need to make for that day, such as special clothing, boots, lunches, money, sunscreen, gloves, backpacks, water bottles, etc.
• The drop off and pick up time for the children, if it differs from the regular school day.
• A packing checklist if the trip involves overnight travel.

Expert Q&A

• Plan thoroughly, including provisions for bad weather. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Schedule events in order of importance so you can cut the trip short if necessary. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Have a cell phone with you, in case of an emergency. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Count the children as they get on and off the bus. Never leave the site if a child is missing. Have the children and the adult supervisors remain on the bus while you speak with the student buddy, and ask site staff to help locate the child. Locate the child even if the bus driver needs to get back for another run, and do not be pressured. Thanks Helpful 37 Not Helpful 6

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• ↑ http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/1824
• ↑ http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/yl/1403/140307.html

About This Article

To plan a class field trip, make sure the location matches what the children have been learning. For example, if you’ve been talking about space in your classroom, take the kids to the planetarium. Once you’ve got a location in mind, book a date and transportation, then ask parents to sign permission slips if necessary. Before the field trip, put together a folder of contacts, lesson plans and emergency information. Additionally, explain to the class what the trip’s about, why you’ve chosen this location, and what you hope they’ll learn, to help them understand how it connects to their classwork. Keep reading for more advice on how to design effective learning activities for the children during the field trip. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Tips for Planning a Field Trip

My very first year teaching , I was put in charge of planning a field trip for students who had earned Honor Roll. I was told to do it as cheaply as possible. When I asked what my budget was, the response was $0. Ok… I’ll do my best. Hopefully, this won’t be your experience! Since then, I have planned or co-planned several field trips ranging from free trips to overnight, out-of-town trips. Here is what I have learned.

TIPS FOR PLANNING A FIELD TRIP

Finding a destination.

This is the trickiest task because it is so dependent on your budget and location , but here are a couple of tips. Ask students what they like to do around town or what field trips they have been on before and enjoyed.  If it’s fun, students won’t mind going somewhere they have gone before. Also, Googling (your town’s name + field trip) will result in websites galore with lists of places to visit in your city.  Lastly, visiting a local college or university is relatively free and will pump up students for attending college one day. (Also, those trampoline facilities are just about the best thing to take 100 students to. You can tie it to their learning about physics in science if you need an educational objective.)

If you are planning a field trip, there are so many people that need to know about it– parents, students, the front office, the administration, specials teachers, and all of your grade level teachers. Teachers need to plan their scope and sequences around it and make sure they don’t take that day off. Give everyone a minimum of a month heads up. The more time the better. Typically, I look at the school calendar, pick 2-3 dates (I prefer trips to be on Fridays), email my team to ask if any of those dates don’t work, and then schedule the trip with the facility we will be visiting. Once confirmed, I send out a calendar invite to basically the entire school’s staff.

Getting Everyone on the Same Page

Once the field trip has been scheduled, I like to meet with all of the teachers who will be attending. This is the time in which I delegate tasks and we run through the agenda for the day. This agenda will include everything from what teachers are on which bus with what students to when we will take restroom breaks. I create a three-column table with the headings of time, what students are doing, and what teachers are doing. The more questions that are answered on that document, the less figuring things out when you are on the field trip. Another tip: If you use Google Sheets, not only is it editable and accessible to all as you brainstorm, but you can also have separate sheets devoted to the day’s agenda, attendance lists, bus assignments, important contact information, to-do lists, and delegated tasks that all lives in one workbook.

Delegate Tasks

If you are planning a field trip, then you should not be trying to do everything by yourself! Here are some tasks you can delegate: contacting and organizing parent volunteers; making, copying, and distributing permission slips; scheduling buses; or requesting and sending payment. If I am the point person, then I will handle many of these tasks (because sometimes it is just easier), but I try not to take on all of them.

Set Students Up for Success

My team and I like to announce when a field trip is coming up, but we give little to no details about where we are going. We share vague clues the weeks leading up it; this builds suspense and increases the joy. Once we need to send permission slips home, I show students a PowerPoint that announces where we are going and what we will be doing and that shows pictures and/or videos. A couple of days before the field trip, in advisory, I show an additional PowerPoint with ALL the information that they need: what the schedule for the day will be, if they can bring money and how much, what they should wear, how they should act, reminders about their behavior, and I answer no less than 100 questions. Teacher tip: I use the field trip as an incentive for good behavior in my classroom. Students work much harder when they know something fun is on the line.

Don’t Forget!

• Medicine/first aid kit
• Rosters for attendance (on a clipboard)
• Permission slips
• Find out how to schedule buses at your school
• Emergency procedures and any important phone numbers

If you are planning a field trip, then you are basically a teacher pro!   Well done. It is a huge task to take students off campus for a fun learning experience. What tips would you add? And what trips have your students enjoyed?

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February 20, 2020 at 11:46 am

These are all great tips and I think that delegating the work may be the most important. Field trips require ample planning and effort, so if a teacher is planning everything alone, it may be in their best interest to bring in some assistance. Enlisting the services of a student’s parent, for example, will help to take some of the burden off.

Washington DC Field Trip Itinerary for Educators

Washington, D.C. is one the most popular field trip destinations in the United States. This suggested itinerary will help you get the most out of your time in our nation’s capital.

Check out an accessible PDF of our  Washington, D.C. Field Trip Itinerary for educators!

Before you go:

• Contact the National Park Service at Ford’s Theater  at 202-426-6924 .
• Contact the Smithsonian Institution or contact specific departments in the American History Museum.
• Contact the US Capitol to book a tour .
• Contact the National Museum of African American History and Culture for timed entry tickets .
• Show your class our Civil War Animated Map .
• Utilize our Civil War Curriculum .
• Apply to the  History Field Trip Grant Program .
• Contact your lodging and restaurant reservations to ensure everything is in order.

Ideal Itinerary if you are visiting for one-day:

Time: 5-6 hours

What to do:

Visit some of the FREE museums on the National Mall.

• 1300 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
• 202-633-1000
• [email protected]
• 1400 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20560
• 1-844-750-3012

Walk towards some of the FREE monuments and memorials in the National Mall. 

• Visit the Washington Monument and climb to the top for the best views of DC
• 202-426-6841

Most importantly, enjoy your visit!

If you are visiting for more than one day:

Same itinerary as above for the first day in addition to the following:

Get a free guided tour of the Capitol Building.

• You may need contact your local Representative or Senator if your group is larger than 15.

Get tickets to tour Ford’s Theater and the Petersen House where Abraham Lincoln was shot and eventually succumbed to his wounds.

• 202-347-4833
• Participate in a Ranger Program here !

Book a tour of the Arlington Cemetery .

• 1-877-907-8585

Restaurants that serve groups:

• 1726 Connecticut Ave, NW. Washington, DC 20009
• 202-849-6100
• ​ 901 I St NW, Washington, DC 20001
• 202-733-5333
• 600 14th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20005
• 202-787-1000

Travel Tips:

• Renting a bus can be costly in the Washington DC area. Budget accordingly.
• Vehicle traffic is very heavy, and roads are congested throughout the day, especially during rush hour.
• The Mall is much larger than it looks on a map, and the distance between the Capitol Building and the Lincoln Memorial tricks many first time visitors. Plan you time and transportation methods accordingly.
• Get started early in the day. Crowds are smaller earlier in the day, which will allow you to explore sites more freely. 
• Most major Washington museums have security check points with metal detectors. On busy days it can take a while to get through security.
• April-June are the busiest months for field trips. Add to this time frame the National Cherry Blossom Festival, and vacationers, this means that the historic sites in the district can be jam packed.
• Washington was built on swamp land, which means it can be both hot and humid.
• Food carts and trucks around the Mall and other parts of Washington carry a wide variety of food and beverage. Most museums also have cafeterias and snack bars.
• Many of the Smithsonian museums carry band aids, sunscreen, umbrellas, and other necessities in their gift shops.

Historic Boston Field Trip Itinerary for Educators

Historic Philadelphia Field Trip Itinerary for Educators

Gettysburg Field Trip Itinerary for Educators

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Get out of the classroom and explore the world!

Field trips are a quintessential school experience. You usually only get one or two a year so it’s important to do it right! Our roundups of unique field trip ideas have something for every age, subject, and interest. We’ve even got resources like permission slip forms and chaperone tips. Get ready to leave the classroom behind to take learning on the road!

Preschool Field Trip Ideas

Early-grade field trips help kids learn about the world and also teach them good field trip behavior. These are our top picks for the pre-K crowd, but many of the options on our kindergarten list are perfect for this age group too.

• Library: Not every student’s parents take them to story time. Schedule your own trip, and show kids that having fun isn’t hard when you have a library card!
• Farm: Whether you learn how vegetables are grown or where milk and eggs come from, the farm is always a hit.
• Grocery store: Go behind the scenes at the supermarket, and use this trip as the foundation for lessons on healthy eating.
• Park: From local playgrounds to majestic national parks, it’s always worth getting kids into the great outdoors.
• Children’s museum: This is the age group most children’s museums were designed for! They’ll love all the hands-on fun and excitement.
• Post office: Learn how mail is sorted and shipped, and teach students about stamps and other mail-related items.
• Bank: Money is a new concept for these kiddos, and they’ll be fascinated to step inside the vault and learn other bank secrets.
• Fire station: There’s just something about a fire truck that gets every little one excited.
• Nursing home: Is there anything sweeter than watching seniors and wee ones spend time together?
• Animal shelter: For kids who don’t have pets at home, this can be a good introduction to animals. Others will just enjoy the time with dogs and cats waiting for their forever homes.

Elementary School Field Trip Ideas

@mjdstoronto

These are the prime field trip years! Here are our favorite trips for every grade.

• 14 Kindergarten Field Trips (Virtual and In-Person)
• 15 First Grade Field Trips (Virtual and In-Person)
• 15 Second Grade Field Trips (Virtual and In-Person)
• 15 Third Grade Field Trips (Virtual and In-Person)
• 23 Fourth Grade Field Trips (Virtual and In-Person)
• 22 Fifth Grade Field Trips (Virtual and In-Person)

Middle and High School Field Trip Ideas

@salinasvalleybasingsa

For this age group, you’ll need to step up your game a bit. (They’ve probably already been to the zoo, the aquarium, and the art museum.) Try some of these locations, which offer educational, social-emotional, and real-life learning opportunities.

• Food bank: Hold a food drive, then arrange a trip to your local soup kitchen or food pantry. Volunteering makes for truly meaningful field trips.
• Recycling facility: In a time when reducing landfill waste is more important than ever, a trip to a recycling facility can help drive home the message.
• Theater: Many theaters offer behind-the-scenes tours for schools and discount pricing when you buy tickets in bulk. (Want to go virtual? Check out the Hamilton Education Program !)
• Community college: Parents sometimes take kids on college visits, but a community college trip offers opportunities for even more students to see themselves getting a higher education.
• TV station: Kids interested in communications or technology will find this completely fascinating.
• Courtroom: There’s no better way to understand the justice system than to see it in action.
• State or county capitol: Every government class should visit a local capitol to meet with officials and see how the government works.
• Local business: This can be a cool way to learn about managing a business, working with customers, or discovering how products are made.
• Wildlife rehab facility: Introduce students to the people who help injured wild animals recover and live free once again.

Virtual Field Trip Ideas

@edtech_tusd

The terrific thing about virtual field trips is that they eliminate so much of the hassle. No need to collect permission slips, arrange for buses, or recruit chaperones. Plus, they’re usually free!

• 40 Amazing Educational Virtual Field Trips
• 20 Terrific Virtual Art Museum Field Trips
• 18 Incredible Virtual Zoo Field Trips
• 15 Fascinating Aquarium Virtual Field Trips
• 3 Science Virtual Field Trips Let Kids Travel the World

Field Trips by Location

If you live in one of these cities, check out some of our favorite spots.

• 16 Cool Field Trips in Houston, Texas
• 21 Terrific Field Trips in Chicago, Illinois
• Top 10 Washington D.C. Field Trip Ideas

Field Trip Tips and Resources

There’s a lot to do when you’re organizing an off-site field trip. These resources are here to help.

• Preparing Parent Chaperones for a Field Trip
• Free Printable Field Trip and School Permission Forms To Make Your Life Easier
• Things To Do Before Taking Your Students on a Major Field Trip
• Mistakes To Avoid When Planning a Field Trip for Students
• Why I Hate Field Trips (And How I Learned To Deal)
• Help! Is There Any Way I Can Get Out of Our End of the Year Field Trip?

Bonus: Looking for a laugh? Check out  Ways School Field Trips Are Like The Wizard of Oz !

What are your favorite field trip ideas? Come share your thoughts in the  We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook !

Plus,  virtual college campus tours to explore from home ..

You Might Also Like

The Best Field Trips for Fourth Graders (In Person and Virtual)

Look, touch, listen, learn. Continue Reading

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Inspire the next generation of space explorers with a Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex field trip. Here, your students will launch into a galaxy of fun and learning through authentic NASA science, technology, engineering and math. While Kennedy Space Center's story has a rich history, today it is active as America's multi-user spaceport.

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• A trip to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is a full-day experience.
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Currently field trips are only available at the visitor complex and cannot be provided virtually.

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Trip Agenda

Agenda maker.

Traveling is everybody’s dream. Working day after day, people will really spend the time to unwind. So, how do you plan for it? Agenda writing for an upcoming trip would help you achieve a trip that would not only have one activity but more than the fingers you have on your hand.

Although we all know that meeting agenda is more commonly conducted at businesses and school, an agenda is not only applicable to those institutions, but also on trips. To know more, try to check below samples of trip agendas that can make your trip worthwhile.

Business Trip Agenda

Size: 25 KB

Trip Plan Agenda

A TRIP AGENDA IS…

A trip agenda is a schedule of activities you have for a day worth of trip or so. It is a chronological list of activities to ensure that your day wouldn’t be wasted. A trip agenda shows what you expect to accomplish in the trip. Unlike effective meeting agenda examples that use numerals or whatnot, a trip agenda uses time frames.

A trip agenda is commonly used on tours. This way, visitors who travel to a certain destination can go to more places and can do more than one activity. A trip agenda also ensures that things would go smoothly between stops.

AGENDA FOR BUSINESS TRIPS

Business trips differ from the concept of traveling for relaxing purposes in beaches or other places. From the agenda examples in excel and other classification of documents, you can see that some trips are not for fun alone.

Although it may be a businessmen’s idea of fun, business trips are trips mainly for business purposes, such as visiting operational sites in other countries, meetings at other company sites, and etc. Writing a business agenda for trip is the same as other agendas, but the difference is business trips include a schedule related to work activities.

Road Trip Agenda

Family Trip Agenda

Size: 37 KB

Field Trip Agenda

Size: 418 KB

School Trip Agenda

Size: 101 KB

IDEAS ON TRAVEL ITINERARIES

It is exciting to have a trip in the near future that sometimes we would love to decide and create on our own itineraries instead of free agenda examples we can just find on the net.

You can do lots on a trip, such as visiting a country wherein you can set a time to visit a number of tourist destinations. If it’s a family trip, you can plan for activities. For a school trip, you can set up a program for activities. A lot can be done in a day, you just have to manage your time wisely.

BENEFITS OF TRIP AGENDA

Seeing all those agenda example in word or in templates, you know that a trip agenda is beneficial. Here are the reasons why:

• Trip agenda would not let you miss anything in a trip.
• You know what to expect and not get lost since the trip is organized.
• You will have the idea where and when to buy what you wish.
• You will be able to prepare and not leave anything behind.
• Rather than wasting time during the vacation deciding what to do, agendas will save you from that and give you more time to enjoy your trip.

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

Draft an agenda for the upcoming student council meeting focusing on school safety improvements and fundraising ideas

Create an agenda for a parent-teacher association meeting discussing new teaching methods and school year planning.

Mar 10 2020

A field trip agenda – for better meetings

Published by John David Smith at 10:06 pm under Uncategorized

I’m always inspired by Nancy White, and this effort to respond to COVID-19 is a perfect example of why.

It reminded me that I’ve been sitting on a “field trip agenda” that I developed to help people on the Shambhala Process Team hold better meetings on Zoom. I’m sharing it here, as is, since perfection is the enemy of the good. It has a good dose of Shambhala terminology, such as Ground, Path and Fruition (roughly, the context, the process, and the outcome of whatever you are talking about). It owes a lot to conversations with Susan Skjei and Liza Smith. They are the best thinking partners in my world.

You may find the following material useful if you imagine it as notes to yourself — what to do during a 90 minute training and demonstration session.

Overall Goal: (model setting a clear agenda)

• Quick, easy boost for Shambhala conveners of all sorts
• It also provides further resources (such as this document)

Agenda – 90 minute  Schedule :

Model good practice, Invitation : 

(This is what I would send out to participants:)

• Do you find yourself facilitating lots of online meetings without having received much training on how to do them?  Are you anxious about making a meeting really fun and productive? Have you ever struggled to keep people engaged during an online meeting? Have you experienced lots of silence or people talking, but not listening? ( ground )
• Join us for a 90 minute interactive training session that will explore design frameworks and techniques, do some exercises and demonstrate good practices for making meetings fun and productive. ( path )
• Build your skills to develop agendas and facilitate online meetings that lead to action.
• Develop meeting designs that leave people feeling connected and wanting to connect more.
• Put the technology (Zoom and some other tools) to work for you rather than being a distraction or an obstacle. ( fruition)
• The topic and purpose of the meeting
• Who’s invited (and why you should attend)
• Start and stop time
• The Zoom information and phone alternatives
• Zoom schedule tips (especially for meetings that need to be private).
• Purpose: help people settle and allow latecomers join without having to catch up.
• Instruction: “Turn away from your computer…” 
• How: Make it short. 3 minutes.  Share a screen explaining what’s happening.  Guided meditation is recommended so that anyone participating in audio-only mode is reassured that something is happening.
• Purpose: Welcome and explain the meeting purpose: “ In this 90 minute session we are trying to model good practice, provide a framework for effective use of Zoom, and gather some useful tips”.  Could include an overview of the agenda.
• This session will be recorded (as announced). In most meetings it needs to be a formal agreement step.  Recording would be shared within Shambhala but can’t be restricted. Note that recording to the cloud can become expensive very quickly. If you save the recording on your own machine you can upload it to YouTube for free and you have more control over what’s recorded.
• We are taking notes in this Google Doc during the meeting.  Multiple participants can help and all should be able to view. Meeting notes template??
• Have people self-assess and ask for help beforehand if they need it
• Assume level of comfort and follow up afterward if necessary
• Poll in real time (good if the group has not met this way before)
• Do people understand the difference between “Speaker View” and “Gallery View” — and can they swap when they want?
• Do people know how to identify themselves (by clicking on their name on the lower-right-hand corner of their image)?
• Purpose: get everyone’s voice & practice turning their microphone off and on
• Announce an arbitrary sequence & call on people; or each person invites the next person to go.
• Set and enforce time limits. On-the-spot decision.
• Check-in topic should connect to the meeting purpose and prime the conversation — without being too heavy
• Check-in question: “Name, Place, what kind of online meetings do you need to run?”
• For large groups, check-in might be in a breakout
• Purpose: create small group conversations, give people more opportunities to talk and listen and get to know each other
• Pose the question as simply as possible, then repeat it and broadcast it during the breakout
• Timing 8 minutes
• Groups of 3 (consider different sizes for different purposes)
• Reconvening & segue 
• Roles to consider in each breakout group: facilitator, timer, recorder, reporter
• Question: “What has been your experience of online meetings? Share some highlights and challenges”
• Purpose: listen to everyone and create a group transcript that can be used later.
• Wait to hit enter till everyone is finished writing and then all hit enter at the same time and use a gong to indicate “enter”) or free form.
• Reading out some highlights & reflect.
• Divergent thinking (brainstorming)
• Convergent focus on agreement or a specific outcome (decision-making)
• The feeling of asserting cohesion or “we are a ____ group”
• The sense of “presencing” (resting in awareness of possible future) is important
• (Add other goals here…)
• You can take turns speaking and managing technical details 
• or have specific roles
• Stick to the plan or improvise or respond to what comes up?
• Model good practice: Write out a script or an agenda and sharing it with participants so they know where they are in the process.  That’s what this Google Doc is.
• Model good practice: Use screen-sharing skillfully: briefly show a PowerPoint or Google Doc or even a video
• can  be a nice record of “being together”
• Easy way of taking attendance
• Remembering names and faces
• Alternate between gallery and “speaker” (single-person) view – controlled by host and determines what’s recorded
• a structuring invitation (what a sequence or an individual step is for, what participants can expect);
• how the “ space ” is arranged and what materials are needed (“Hollywood Squares” vs. “Speaker mode” vs screen-sharing; using chat; shared Google Doc);
• how participation is distributed (percentage of the time in different modes of participation — from passive listening, interacting, collaborating, gathering insights);
• how groups are configured (single speaker, breakouts of different sizes, assigning specific people to specific breakout rooms, sequential speaking like a check-in, speaking all at once, guided meditation or individual note-taking); and,
• a sequence of steps and time allocation (for the whole and for each chunk). 
• Your contract with the group: you “protect the conversation” on behalf of the group; that gives you the right to exercise control.
• Read the room means paying attention to participation verbally, in the chat, providing different ways for people to stay engaged, check points to express discomfort, (sometimes) interpret signals out loud.  Having a partner for this part can be extremely helpful.
• The danger of being “too helpful” or playing the role of “summarizer” with unconscious power and unconscious biases.  Issues of projection. 
• Mixing or switching between distinct roles (between facilitator, expert, elder, fool, etc.) can be confusing (to others and to ourselves).
• Fundamental importance of mindfulness and transparency.
• Any facilitator (or speaker) whose internet speed might be slow should consider using the phone audio option that Zoom provides illustrated in this screen-shot: 
• Google Docs for collective note-taking: https://docs.google.com/  
• Google Jamboard: https://jamboard.google.com/  
• Google slides
• Don’t be too ambitious
• Some moments of individual reflection & note-taking (silence): think about an upcoming meeting that you will take part in or facilitate. What is the meeting’s purpose? Can you define it in 1-2 sentences?  
• Pairs: Share your meeting’s purpose.  Is it clear? Does it make sense? Share one thing you would do to improve the next meeting
• Groups of four: 1) share your purpose 2) your improvement goal and 3) how does that translate into an agenda? What choices might you make?
• Images that have come up
• Unmute & talk 
• This is a sense-making practice: Assessing where we are, gathering possibilities, imagining next steps
• Model good practice: Simultaneous responses and brainstorming organized around a specific question where everyone participates. Facilitators pull out a few themes coming up in the chat.
• Zoom chat can be a private backchannel
• ======================================
• Core Values Brainstorm
• Process and publish the chat transcript afterwards .  Can be the basis of meeting notes or a communiqué.  Append to this agenda document. Techniques for making the chat an effective meeting record (have a designated note-taker)
• Leverage the Zoom Chat transcript for sharing or further use
• My key learnings, next steps, suggestions.
• Question: What’s one practice that I’m going to experiment with?

Some resources (annotated & shared during or after an event)

• Skilled Facilitator
• Priya Parker: Art of Gathering  
• Arnie Mandel: deep democracy 
• LS virtual sandbox log (Use other people’s experience) 
• LS virtual resources spreadsheet
• LS virtual checklist spreadsheet 
• DESIGN of LIBERATED VIRTUAL MEETINGS v2
• LS menu   Reading the Virtual Room

One response so far

One Response to “A field trip agenda – for better meetings”

This is fantastic, John!

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PLANNING A PARENT MEETING

August 17, 2018

Planning a trip to Pali is big undertaking! One of the best ways to get planning off on the right foot is to host a parent meeting. This can be a great kick-off for sharing information, collecting sign ups, deposits or starting your fundraising for the trip.

The heart of the meeting will be the video that Pali provides. It’s designed to answer many of the questions that your families will have and offer them an opportunity to see our program in action.

SCHEDULING THE MEETING :

It’s important to schedule the parent meeting at a time that most families can attend. Depending on your school community, this may be in the morning during student drop-off or in the evening once parents are out of work.  Schools have seen great success with scheduling meetings alongside other school events such as back-to-school nights, PTA meetings or other all-school events.

You’ll want to schedule the meeting in a location with a projector and sound system, so make sure to book an appropriate place.

PLANNING FOR THE MEETING :

While introducing the trip, the big questions will be ‘What is Pali?’, when the trip will take place, and price.  We suggest you prepare a handout that offers this information:

• Dates of the trip
• A little info about Pali Institute
• Price for the trip and payment timeline

We suggest a section that can be filled out and returned to you for parents to state their interest in having their student participate. Adding these pieces of info will help you when it comes time to preparing the spreadsheet for our online paperwork:

• Student Info (name / birth date / gender)
• Parent emails (should include emails for both parents)

MEETING AGENDA :

• Introductions of school staff, sharing trip dates and background of the Pali trip (5 mins)
• Show Pali Institute parent video (8 mins)
• Show the Pali Institute trip video from your school’s previous trip (6 mins – optional)
• Share pricing and payment timeline (5 mins)
• Answer general questions from families (15-20 mins)
• What opportunities will the school provide families have to help defray costs?
• This may be a great opportunity to ask for volunteers to assist in fundraising efforts.
• Check out our fundraising blog here for more ideas: https://www.paliinstitute.com/fundraising-for-schools/
• Since Pali Institute doesn’t allow parent chaperones, parents will want to know who is going with the students:  teachers and admin staff.
• Parents may want to know that Pali instructors stay in cabin with students and are responsible for the health, safety and instruction for their cabin of students.
• Cabin groups are up to 11 students, all single-gender. Activity groups are 15-16 students, mixed genders.
• Neither cabin groups, nor activity groups are mixed among different schools.
• The school is responsible for assigning cabin and activity groups, so parents may have questions about how assignments are done or if a buddy can be requested.
• We know that Pali Institute is a great opportunity for students to spend time with new friends, but it is ultimately up to the school to choose any method of group assignment that works.
• Some schools will send out a note via Classdojo, a mass-email, or text or phone blast to families once students arrive at Pali, and once they leave to share an estimated time students will arrive back at school.  We suggest you utilize whatever method of communication you typically use to share information with families for these messages.
• Pali will take both photos and video of your students throughout their visit.  Video is assembled into a school specific video shown to students at the end of the trip, with a link provided for parents to view at home.  Photos are posted onto a secure website for family viewing as well.
• Teachers often take their own photos during their visit and those images are combined with the Pali shots for one complete photo diary of the Pali Institute experience.  (Pali can assist you with uploading and hosting if you don’t have a class page that can do this.)

QUESTIONS THAT ARE SPECIFIC TO PALI INSTITUTE TRIPS :

• This is the most frequent question. While the list is included in the online paperwork, parents will want another copy. We recommend sharing it on teacher pages and then sending it home in the month prior to the trip.
• Packing List in English
• Packing List in Spanish
• Students wake up at 7am and lights out is at 10pm. Students have about 45 minutes in the morning and evening to shower and dress, with meals being served at 8am, 12:30pm and 5:30pm.  Classes, activities and programming takes place throughout their day.
• We are happy to discuss any individual issues with parents to ensure their child’s health and safety throughout their trip.  Our medical staff is well equipped to deal with any needs that may come up.
• We ask that parents include the information in their online paperwork in particular their Camp Doc registration, and they are welcome to call the Pali staff to discuss any specifics.
• Pali Institute can provide vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free options by request, in addition to being a nut-free facility. For any allergies or other food preferences, we can share the menu for the trip and parents can supplement with pre-cooked, heat-and-serve food from home, if needed, which a Pali staff member can heat for each meal.
• Parents should be assured that ‘picky’ is not a special dietary need and we provide a buffet of kid-friendly, delicious meals throughout their stay.

We look forward to hosting your school at Pali Institute!

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