Taking your group on a field trip to an educational facility
like the Jordan Planetarium is an adventure that involves rich,
real-world experience and fun filled activities. Here are a
few field trip tips to help maximize the value of the field
trip and minimize the difficulties of navigating unfamiliar
territory with your group.
• Plan ahead! When arranging for your field
trip visits, anticipate the needs of your group. Provide time
and opportunity to use bathroom facilities, and a location for
snacks and meals whether at restaurant facilities or at a rest
area where a bag lunch can be enjoyed, and allow students ample
time to enjoy the primary sites of your trip.
• Get directions and maps of the area(s) that
you will be visiting, and consult with the host facility(ies)
to determine the amount of time required for their programs
and for travel between facilities and events. For maps to the
Jordan Planetarium, click here.
• Make the field trip relevant. Spend time
with your group discussing and learning about the subjects addressed
at the sites that you are going to visit. Most sites have materials
that can be used in advance that help to focus your group’s
attention on the lessons that can be gained from this visit.
The Jordan Planetarium offers Cosmic Classroom guides for each
star show, so that your class will be fully prepared for their
visit to the planetarium. Visit the Cosmic
Classroom for more information.
• Organize, organize, organize. In the weeks
leading up to a field trip, get permission slips from every
student’s family allowing the student to participate in the
field trip. Be sure that it includes a telephone number where
guardians and parents can be reached on the day of the field
trip.
This is also the time to solicit the help of parents and teachers
to be chaperones during the field trip. State law requires at
least one chaperone for every ten students in a school class.
Additional adults are usually very helpful, but adults who have
to bring other siblings may be bringing unwanted distractions.
With children’s groups, it is often wise to assign a chaperone
to a specific group of children, so that the task of counting
heads and carrying out directions does not fall entirely on
the shoulders of one or two leaders.
Collect all of the monies that are required from each student
before leaving home, and organize the payments into separate
envelopes for each of the facilities that you will be visiting.
