Whether you hop on the subway to a museum or just walk down the block to the local library, a field trip can be a great way to extend learning beyond the classroom. As you kick off the school year, here are some ideas to help you plan your next class trip.

Traditional institutions always a safe bet

“Many people do not realize how affordable New York City is to the public schools,” says Antoinette Emanuel, a teacher at Beginning With Children Charter School, which is represented by the UFT, in Brooklyn. “We have gone to Ellis Island, the Schomburg Library in Harlem, the Metropolitan Museum, the American Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn Museum. Imagine getting all this history for free!” 

Most large museums have programs designed especially for school field trips that can be customized to your needs. At the Met’s website, for example, teachers can download guides to specific galleries to prepare their students for a visit to the museum. 

Other museums can help your students go on scavenger hunts, draw sketches of what they see or answer trivia questions about exhibits. “I created a scavenger hunt based on the early humans exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History,” says Kim Barget, who teaches at the Scholars’ Academy in Far Rockaway. “I schedule the trip just as we finish the unit, so the kids are very excited to see their content come alive.”

Extraordinary possibilities in the ordinary

Ordinary destinations can make for extraordinary learning experiences. Especially for young students, English language learners and students with special needs, commonplace locations around the neighborhood can be a great way to extend learning beyond the classroom. 

“Believe it or not, I take my kindergarten Integrated Co-Teaching class to Stop & Shop. Surprisingly, many children have never been to a supermarket and there’s so much to learn,” says Marie Raffa Marino, a special education teacher at PS 76 in Long Island City.

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Jeroen Elfferich

Field trips can also be a special way of launching or concluding a unit. The students of PS 117 in Briarwood, Queens, celebrate the end of one of their writing units by reading their published works aloud to an audience at a local bookstore. Vinny Podraza, a 1st-grade teacher at PS 21 in Flushing, brings his students to an ice cream shop during a “How To” writing unit to learn how the cake decorator makes cakes from beginning to end.

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Manuel Sanvictores

Thinking big? Fundraise

Nancy Zazulka, a teacher at IS 61 in Staten Island, was able to take her students on a “long-awaited” trip to the Empire State Building through donations from DonorsChoose.org.

Move beyond your curriculum

For many teachers, field trips ideally tie into a subject their students are studying. But enjoying the simple pleasures of a new experience is an added bonus of getting outside the school building.

“One of our best class trips was going to Pizzeria Uno,” says Lisa DiMeglio Calder, a special education teacher at P141 at PS 380 in Brooklyn. “It was a new experience for them. The kids got to make their own individual pizza, and communicate and socialize with each other outside of the classroom, something they rarely get to do.”

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Pat Arnow