Field trip Fridays: bookstores

Deceptively small exterior.

A bookstore? For a field trip? Are you crazy? Well, it can't be just any bookstore. There has to be some sort of structure - perhaps a bookstore event. Perhaps the trip should coincide with a reading, or a book signing. Or some sort of fundraising maneuver. A community get-together.

Or it can just be a crazy bookstore, like Powell's in Portland. The world could do with a few more of those.

Thinking outside the box for field trip ideas. Anyone got any good ones?

Field trip Fridays: The Bay Trail

The Bay Trail is long. Very long. I'm just talking about the part near SFO today.


It's a nice picnic area.


Besides the planes landing and taking off, and *maybe* a connection to marine life (though for that, there are better choice than this place), there really is no obviously strong academic connection to this field trip location. I'm just attracted to the idea of having a "Last Day of School Class Picnic and Game Day" here. You know, as a reward for working hard throughout the school year, celebrating achievements, reflecting on growth, and getting excited about all that is to come.


This section gave me the chills when I walked it. For some reason, it reminded me of the TST Promenade in Hong Kong - the area that fewer tourists go to, towards Hung Hum. They don't look anything alike. However the combination of marine air, a well-maintained sidewalk, the presence of a Starbucks, and the roar of nearby-yet-partly-hidden traffic gave me a strong sense of familiarity.


I also love the fact that free parking exists somewhere on the SF peninsula. Awesomeness.

Field Trip Fridays: Golden Gate Bridge

Is it worth it to drag 30-odd students on a 3 hour (at best) round-trip bus ride just to spend an hour walking across, and back again, on a historic, construction-zone with headache inducing traffic noise?

Sure! Why not!

Well, there's actually plenty of other things to do in the area. Such as the state park and recreation area surrounding the bridge. The place where they filmed that lady jumping off the building in Vertigo (see second photo from bottom, above). Not to mention just enjoying the scenery and marine air.

But the bridge, in my opinion, is by far the most interesting part. It's really cool to walk across something that sways and vibrates, for one. It's intriguing to know the story behind all the fencing, netting, cameras, and the dudes on surfboards floating around in frigid water waiting to rescue potential jumpers.

Yep. Just gruesome enough to make students interested, and not gruesome enough to illicit worried, angry phone calls from parents which send the principal on your back. Again.

I really like this place. It's nice. I would come here more often if SF traffic wasn't such a bother to navigate. Come one future students! Invent that teleporter already!

California Academy of Sciences

All photos in this post were taken by my friends, M&B. Unfortunately, about ten minutes before we entered the Academy, my water bottle leaked all over my 4-year-old Canon Powershot while both were in my bag. The water bottle won.

Hence, there were many other photos I would have loved to take, but alas, that was not meant to be. Still, this place is awesome. Totally worth shelling out for tickets and a bus to go to. The aquarium and the planeterium were my favorite, especially the weird seadragons.

The older exhibits from when I was in elementary school were still there too. They had less attraction now, especially compared to the newer, cooler things.

I also remember this place having a nice collection of reptiles and bugs before they renovated. Much more than was present in the rainforest exhibit. Where did they all go?

The Imax experience

About a month ago, my class went to the local Imax theater to watch two films: one about California and the other about the International Space Station. The second one was in 3D.

It was fun. The students had a blast. It was rather pricey for a field trip, but we took all day to go, since we walked to the light rail and back again. I would have also included a packed lunch picnic at the capitol park. The film admission included a hot dog, chips, and a soda - which the students consumed at around 10:30 AM. And they were starving by the time we hopped back on the light rail at 12:30 to return to school.

Most of that day was spent in travel time, and really, it would have been better if we had private vehicles as transportation. We could have also shuttled students back and forth from the station to school, and from the station to the theater too. That would have cut down on our travel time by A LOT. But no parents signed up as volunteer drivers. Which is too bad.

I liked it. It wasn't the most spectacular field trip ever. I definitely don't think it was worth the $17.50 the entire trip cost for each student. But it was a relatively easy-to-plan-and-execute, logistically speaking, trip. Student need a break from the daily grind as much as teachers do.

Field trip Fridays: the woods

I live in central CA, so the closest "woods" in the traditional definition are the redwoods along the north coast.



That's a good three hour drive, and from what I know are typically reserved for the 5-day science camp in the 5th or 6th grade.



Still, it's a nice place to go, even if only for a day trip. It will be so different from the urban jungle, or even suburban lawns.



Getting some hiking and fresh air doesn't hurt either. Plus, there are all sorts of science and geography lessons to be tapped.



Who says a field trip has to be confined to four walls and a door?

Field trip Fridays: Micke Grove Park and Zoo

Micke Grove Park and Zoo is a small place. You can walk the zoo portion in about five minutes.



The part is very pretty though. There is a small Japanese garden too.



There was also an amusement park area, but it's never open whenever I go here.



It takes about an hour to bike here, from my house. So two hours round trip biking. Not a bad route for exercise. Exploring the park itself takes another half hour or so on bike. Depending on how lost you get.



And I get lost easily. Well, I probably won't take students here on bike anyway. But it's a nice little place. Perfect for a scavenger hunt, or some sort of science fair gathering. There are big open spaces to launch tissue paper balloons and cardboard tube rockets.

Field trip Fridays: the park

I might have posted these photos already, but the point is, the local park is a perfect place for a field trip.



If there is one within walking distance, I would totally go. Like the beach, some sort of picnic is in order. I've never seen this done before, neither have I actually done it myself, but it might be a good idea to arrange with the city's parks and rec department to provide some of those large orange garbage bags, gloves, and maybe those poker things too so that the students can clean up the park. Community service is a big deal to me.



Even paint and paint brushes to cover up graffiti would work too. An even better idea, of course, is to have students design a 1x1 foot square area and let them paint that on the sidewalk, or a wall, at the park.



Although I wouldn't waste $400 on a bus just to drive to the park, so I probably won't take my students here if we can't hoof it back and forth.

Field trip Fridays: the beach

The only time I went to a beach with my classmates was during fifth grade science camp. We went to a place called Redwood Glen and did all sorts of really cool stuff like night hiking, kissing banana slugs (which, apparently, people are not allowed to do any more because the salt on human lips kills the slugs within hours), visiting marshland, eating sap straight off of the trees, identifying poisonous plants from non-poisonous plants, identifying animal tracks/poop, singing camp fire songs, studying the redwoods, bird watching, and a variety of other things. It was the best week of my elementary school life - and not just because my memory of that time is clearer than most of my other childhood memories.

If a beach is close by, I would totally go with my students. We can have a picnic, collect rocks and shells, poke sticks at dead jellies and kelp, and have some sort of marine/oceanography/coastal habitat lesson tied in. No swimming though, just dipping feet into the water. During this one-off field trip, I don't want to deal with students who don't know how to swim and rip currents, thank you very much.

Field trip Fridays: Shatin's Hong Kong Heritage Museum

So I came here during my vacation mainly because they were having a special exhibition on 1940-1950 Paris and London couture fashions here.

But they also have a nice permanent art exhibit too.

As well as local Hong Kong history (but didn't take photos of those - HK museums are over-populated with museum guards).

It was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon.

If the impossible truly is impossible, then it probably is impossible for me to ever take students from CA to HK just to visit this museum. But, it is still a great place, and I would take students here if I ever got a chance.

By the way, the seven major museums in HK are free every Wednesday of the week. Except for special exhibitions, but some of the museums - including this one - has a discounted entrance fee for those on Wednesdays too.

Field trip Fridays: San Diego Zoo

I was here in May while visiting a friend. We spent the entire day here! And we probably could have spent more, since we didn't even get to see the polar bears or part of the African animals. This is a great place, expensive yes, but apparently San Diego schools get a discount for coming here. And if it's a common thing to do for school trips, then there must be a lot of resources and lessons to tie-in with the zoo visit.





My favorites were the pandas, the ocelot, and the reptile house. The food here is expensive, so I would pack a picnic lunch. I don't think they allow outside food in the zoo, but you can get a stamp and re-enter the same day for free.

Field trip Fridays: Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is awesome. Albeit expensive. And I probably won't take my class here unless I actually teach in Monterey or Carmel. And if I teach in Monterey, my students would probably already have gone at some point in time.

The surrounding beach walk is pretty too.

It is still a beautiful place. I made the mistake of going last year during 4th of July weekend. Can you say sardines in a can? Or maybe in an aquarium?

No, the marine life here are nicely taken care of. I love the otters. But because it was crowded, I didn't get to see the penguins. I left after about 2.5 hours, it was that crowded. I was seeing more backs of people's heads than anything else.