Field Trip: Kentucky Science Center

Passing out Mother's Day Cards

• Yesterday, I was self conscious about the cards that I wrote with the children. When I saw the final pictures, they all looked really nice. The cards that the students made out of the signs also turned out well. I would definitely repeat this activity in my future classroom for the holidays. 

Behavior

• I was so glad that my boys behaved so well! I set my expectations with the boys before we walked in. I told them that we were going to have a great day and that they had to walk inside. I let them know that I expected them to listen to me, and if they didn't, I would make their decisions. The boys were fantastic until the end of the day, when we were into the play room at the science center. That room was very chaotic and almost every child in there was running, so I don't hold that against the boys. I did not like that room at all. I am glad that the boys kept checking in with me. Some chaperones could not find their students, I almost always knew where mine were. The only times that I did not know exactly where my boys were were if they were climbing or going through the pool noodles; it was difficult to keep an eye on the boys in those locations. On the way home, I asked one of my boys if he took his medicine and he said that he had. That medication made a major difference in his behavior.

Student Choice

• I told the boys that we had to do one floor at a time and suggested that we choose areas that do not have too many people so that we would not have to wait in lines. I let them choose where to start and where we should go next. If there was ever a question or a disagreement, I asked the boys where we should go next. 
• They wanted to create a rocket, but they did not want to devote too much time to creating the paper rocket to launch, so I suggested that we all work on one rocket. I differentiated by giving the easiest part to the student with the shortest attention span, giving the medium area to the other student, and I cut the hardest part. The boys took turns putting the tape on while I held the rocket together. Each of the boys got to take a turn launching the rocket. I thought about keeping the rocket so that I could take a picture of it, but one of the boys asked if he could have it, so I let him keep it. 

3D Movie

• The 3D movie was great. Many of the children reached for the items that appeared to come out of the screen. It was funny because the boys were convinced that one of my boys actually hit the orange, because it went flying in the appropriate direction after he swatted at it when it went to him. I am glad that the boys decided to sit in the back row because I did not have to worry about one of my students standing up during the movie. The boys commented that the movie was boring, but one of the boys kind of liked it. 

Lunch

• It was weird because one of the museum staff members thought that I was the main teacher. As I was walking in, she saw my teacher sticker from the museum. She told me that they would give us a 5 minute warning to finish eating and that we had to wash our own tables, but they would sweep the floor. I was sure to tell the other teachers about what she said. It made me feel really good that I passed as a teacher. 

Bus

• The boy who originally did not want to be in my group because he wanted to be with his friend, asked me to sit with him on the the bus. 

It was really nice getting to see my block 3 class one last time. I liked getting to go on this field trip.