Field trips can be exciting learning experiences for students if carefully planned. The document outlines several key steps to plan a successful field trip, including: scheduling the trip well in advance; informing administrators, teachers, parents and students of their responsibilities; ensuring proper supervision ratios and transportation safety; conducting preparatory and follow-up activities to reinforce learning; and evaluating the trip's educational value. Careful planning is essential to create an enriching experience that extends classroom learning beyond the four walls.

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Chapter 9
Plan Field Trips – William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
Field trips are an extension of the classroom’s education program. If well planned
and properly supervised, they can be exciting and enriching learning experiences for the
class. Creativity is unleashed when learning moves from the four-walled classroom to
the classroom of the world. Field trips offer children an opportunity to learn by seeing,
touching, and exploring what they read about in books. As children gaze upon historic
monuments or retrace the footsteps of bygone heroes, as they observe intricate
conveyor belts manipulate products in a factory, or as they stand before huge printing
presses spitting news copy with lightening speed, they discover life and their
appreciation of the community, state, and nation in which they live.
If a field trip is going to be successful, careful planning is essential. Children feel
a part of the total experience if they are allowed to help plan the field trip. Guide the
class in the planning stages by outlining the academic subject students are currently
studying and pointing out exactly what they can expect to observe while on the field
excursion.
Schedule field trips well in advance. Consult the principal or the central
administration at least six weeks prior to short field trips and three to four months prior
to extended field trips. If extended field trips are planned, the teacher and principal must
hold parent conferences or a meeting to explain in detail all teacher, school, parent, and
student responsibilities for the field excursion. Be familiar with the legalities involved in
taking such trips, and inform parents or other sponsoring groups of various
responsibilities.
Post notices informing other faculty members of the class field trip. Furnish a
concise statement and outline to the principal approximately three weeks before the
scheduled trip. In the event changes are necessary, plans can be modified in time to
preserve the excursion.
Strengthen student participation during the trip by signing groups of children to
specific study phases of the adventure so all children gain fully from the learning

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experience. These assignments may be issued a week or two prior to the trip.
Teachers must realize the importance of traveling to unfamiliar places in advance
of scheduled field trips. Teachers responsible for securing buses should do so a week
or two in advance so that the necessary paperwork is submitted prior to transportation
deadlines. Being familiar with travel distances help in determining departure time,
arrival time, and time of return to the school. Also, other information may be discovered
that will expose unforeseen problems and give a clearer idea of what the teacher should
expect. Be sure to inform pull-out program teachers and ancillary staff about students
who will not be attending their class that day. In addition, provide the cafeteria
supervisor with a list of students who may need a sack lunch. Make sure the teacher
has all necessary medications or has made arrangements for medications to be
administered to the child. Caution is advised in this area. If a child has a medical
condition, the teacher must be aware of it prior to the field trip.
Before the day of the field trip, stress to the children the conduct and behavior
that will be expected of them. Send a letter to parents explaining rules and regulations
for student conduct and behavior. In this informational letter, tell parents that the
children will be representing their homes, school, and community and suggest that
parents discuss appropriate field trip behavior with their child. This makes the teacher’s
job easier and solves potential problems. A permission form must accompany the
policies and regulations letter. Have the parent sign three copies. They keep one copy
for themselves and return two copies to the school. Send one copy to the principal and
keep one on file in the classroom. Under no circumstance should a child be allowed to
travel on the field trip without the specific, written consent of parents or guardians.
A male and female from the faculty should accompany the students on the field
trip. Due to safety issues, some school districts require parents who will be attending
the fieldtrip to undergo a criminal background check. Make sure parents are aware of
the school's policies and procedures concerning this matter before the day of the trip.
Each teacher must not be expected to be responsible for more than 35 elementary age
youngsters. Under no circumstances should two teachers be responsible for more than

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70 children unless, of course, a parent offers to help chaperone - in which case no more
than 12 children should be assigned to the parent. Unless they have had supervisory
experience with children, parents must NOT be expected by certified teachers to
perform professional duties.
Discourage use of private vehicles for field trip transportation. If, however, no
alternative can be found, ensure that all vehicles have proper insurance coverage and
meet current safety regulations. Seek assistance from local police authorities in
checking the safety of cars, drivers, and insurance coverage’s. Do not assume the
principal will check everything, for most principals are not auto mechanics by trade.
School system buses are generally inspected by the transportation department, but it is
a good idea to check again for proper ventilation and other conditions to ensure the
children’s safety. It must be the teacher’s professional judgment that safe and adequate
transportation is being provided by conscientious adult drivers.
Do not allow any child to exit the transportation vehicle until told to do so.
Children must thoroughly understand that only their teacher is to give permission to exit
the transporting vehicle.
Emphasize to the students that they are to remain with their assigned group
during the trip and are to conduct themselves properly at all times. Stress that yelling at
passengers in other vehicles or holding items (including arms) out of the windows is
strictly forbidden.
Plan meaningful follow up activities for the class to reinforce learning. Have the
class write letters to the host of the place they visited, summarizing their learning
experiences and expressing appreciation for being given such an opportunity. These
can be in long-hand, but they should be accompanied by a typewritten letter from the
teacher. This small courtesy ensures future invitations. As a special consideration, the
class and teacher could write letters of appreciation to any person who helped furnish
transportation and others who contributed to the success of the field trip.
During informal discussions involving all children in the class, evaluate the field
trip to determine its success. Submit to the principal a report of this discussion,
highlighting the educational merits of the field trip as seen through the children’s eyes.

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The principal can then make a personal assessment of its success.
A Thought in Words
Education commences at the mother’s knee, and every word spoken within the
hearsay of little children tends towards the formation of character. Horace Ballou
Copyright © 2018 by William Allan Kritsonis
William Allan Kritsonis, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
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