In addition to that, the fourth grade teachers at Cecil Floyd Elementary have worked to arrange three more physical field trips during this school year. The first, to the Truman Museum in Independence, will cost only $5 per student due to a grant I received after visiting the museum as a part of a George Washington event I attended earlier in the year. If all goes as planned, two other field trips include one to be determined with the help of the Missouri Conservation Department and another to the Crystal Bridges facility in Arkansas.
I've also scheduled some special events just for our class. We'll calling them Virtual Field Trips (in which we visit with someone live from locations over longer distances), and Reverse Field Trips (Trunks from special museums in New Hampshire and Oklahoma will be delivered to the school for our use. We are the only classroom in Missouri to have received these trunks.).
As it stands, we have nine events on the schedule:
2018
1 | Our first field trip was to the Bluff Dwellers Cave, in October, where students explored the mineral and antique museum before diving deep into the cave with a tour guide. |
2 | Our next field trip will be a longer excursion to the Harry Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri, on November 27. |
3 | On December 4, if all goes as planned, we will visit Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota on our first virtual field trip (not yet confirmed). |
4 | On December 18, the plan is to head toward Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia on another virtual field trip. |
2019
5 | In March, I'm hoping we can head back to Virginia and back in time to speak with someone from George Washington's Mount Vernon in another virtual field trip. |
6 | We'll have a reverse field trip the week of April 1, in the form of a traveling trunk from the American Independence Museum in Exeter, New Hampshire. |
7 | Another reverse field trip (traveling trunk) will arrive from the Oklahoma City National Memorial in mid-April. |
8 | We're looking to schedule a free field trip with the Missouri Department of Conservation to a local location to be determined. |
9 | In preparation for #10 below, a guest speaker from MSSU will visit with students for a week-long artist-in-residence-style presentation relating to the post-colonial era in U.S. history. |
10 | We will schedule a free field trip, including a provided lunch, to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, to study art from and about early America. |