Field Trip Writing Record Freebie

One last field trip before we journey into the lazy days of summer…

We took our learning on the road for a day and became one with some other wild animals. Hey, if you can’t beat them, join them…right?

Our annual trek to the zoo is an absolute whirlwind of animalness! This trip takes us on an hour long bus ride with one mission ~ Don’t lose anyone! Bring learning to life for our little friends.

Fortunately, we had a little help keeping an eye on everyone.

We got to watch the penguin feeding above ground and the kids were excited. But, when we took them downstairs to see the frosty friends literally playing on the glass, they flipped out! Sometimes the best things happen accidentally. They asked if we hired them to perform for our class…We took all the credit, of course.

Wasn’t really sure if this guy was cool or just weird honestly, but had to share… Let’s just say we’re glad he lives at the Zoo, but if we ever want to change up our classroom management approach he might come in handy. Especially around this time of year… HA!

Our favorite part is seeing how many kids fall asleep on the bus ride home. It’s always the ones you would least expect and they just c.r.a.s.h. Last year, we had a Dad fall asleep too. That was a funny picture…

The only problem with our day is the time before the bus arrives and the time after they drop us off. Everyone is bouncing out of their cages to go, and once we’ve reviewed bus rules, passed out nametags, used the bathrooms, and assigned groups, there is not enough time to do much but we need them to do something before the ever so slow bus arrives. When we return, everyone is absolutely exhausted, but we still have time in our day and no nap mats in sight…so, we work. A little.

To fill the bits of unstructured time we have before and after any of our field trips, we came up with this generic Field Trip Record. It’s a perfect time filler before the bus pulls up, and it was a good way to wrap up our day. It’s quick and easy, and gives them a chance to predict and reflect in a quick and easy way.

We also customized one specifically for our zoo trip, which you can download below.

We let them draw or write (or both).

This friend was really anticipating a fun day…

He wonders if he will get to slide down the big grass hill. Nope.

He also thinks he will feed the giraffes. Nope.

Gosh, we do hope he still had a great time too.

I guess we should have prefaced that we weren’t actually going to a petting zoo or feeding animals…But, we can confirm that they do have a giraffe. He did see one. And thank goodness he will always remember the animals. At.the.zoo. Hmmm…