Sunday, November 18, 2012

Field Tripping


Field trips are something that every student looks forward to each year. In fact, when I did a questionnaire at the beginning of the school year, field trips was the number one answer for the question “What are you most excited about for 6th grade?” I remember feeling the same excitement about field trips when I was growing up. Actually, it’s probably still one of my favorite school days of the year.

Picking a location for a field trip here is a bit more challenging than it would be in America because certain things simply aren’t an option. There are no science museums, no aquariums, no nature centers. There is a very sad zoo, a few big parks, and a variety of war-related museums, but all leave a lot to be desired, especially for kids. Last year, we did a Master-Chef-meets-Amazing-Race at the biggest market in town during our Health and Nutrition unit, but this year, I had a better idea; visit the charities we chose for Service Learning.

One of the organizations that we’ve been fundraising for is Wildlife At Risk. This amazing non-profit organization is helping threatened and endangered species and their habitats throughout Vietnam with conservation and education/community outreach. One of the representatives of W.A.R. came out to give a presentation to our students about biodiversity and what is happening to the rainforests here. The students were so excited to help that we decided we’d visit the wildlife rescue center just north of the city in Cu Chi.

Visiting the rescue center was the perfect idea for a field trip because our theme right now is Life Science. We’ve been studying biomes, habitats, and food webs and the impacts that humans have had on them. Plus, it was an opportunity for the service learning group to see where their fundraising donations are going.

So Friday was the big day. It was quite a long haul on the bus with 50 first and second graders, but it was well worth the visit. Here’s a little slideshow I made of our trip.
 


What unique field trips have you taken?

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