Field Trips: Classroom Connections to the Real World

AppleTree teachers are constantly looking for ways to create real-world contexts for engaging their students’ interests.

AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter Schools place a strong emphasis on early language and literacy. Our curriculum is a book-based approach to learning, composed of six four-week thematic units (i.e. “Family and Friends”or “Things that Grow”). The themes are first borne out through shared storybook readings. Students are then encouraged to extendon the themes through various activities and modalities, including discussion,song, play, writing, drawing, creating, exploring, etc.

The teachers at AppleTree recognize that young children learn best when they can connect stories or narratives to their own real-world experiences. For that reason teachers are constantly looking for ways to create contexts for engagement. An AppleTree coach submitted t he example below of a recent field-trip that really highlights how AppleTree teachers use experiential learning to solidify key concepts and inspire further inquiry:

As part of Unit 5, Shadowsand Reflections, classes 4B and 4C took a trip to an island-Roosevelt Island in D.C. Before the trip, students built up their background knowledge about swamp and forest habitats while reading Raccoon on His Own and Play with Me, and exploring related concepts at Centers and during Let’s Find Out About It. Teachers supported their students in brainstorming the types of plants, animals, and landforms they might find in the habitat of Roosevelt Island. The teachers also linked the field trip to another Unit 5 corestorybook, The Puddle Pail, in which the characters make collections of things they find while walking in nature.

Teachers explained to the students that they would each be given a plastic bagin which they could collect any (non-living) items they found interesting. Both classes incorporated literacy skills in a meaningfuland authentic way by giving each student a book entitled “My Trip to Roosevelt Island.” The classes previewed thepages of the book before the trip and got students excited to make observations about the island’s habitat and creatures.

On Roosevelt Island, the students were so excited to begin exploring and making their collections! It was fun to see how some students chose to collect rocks,some collected flowers, others collected sticks. Many included a great variety of finds! Students, parents, and teachers could be heard making meaningful connections to concepts learned in the classroom as they observed the plants,trees, mud, insects, and water on the island.