Almost everyone has fond memories of their school trips.
Often an adventure that included a ride in someone's car, a yellow school bus, a city bus, the subway, or maybe even walking.
After all, what could be more fun that going to an exciting place with all the people you care about in life...
your friends, your teachers, your parents.
Most times it hardly mattered where you were going because the inner anticipation and preparation was just so wonderful you thought you might explore before trip day.
That's a kid's point-of-view and a valuable one at that.
Teachers know that to make a trip valuable and workable, from her perspective, there will be a lot of advanced planning to do.
WHO WHAT WHERE (W) HOW WHY WHO: first thing to discover is the WHO.
Just who will be going on this trip? Perhaps it will be only the children in a specific class or grade level.
Perhaps it will include some or all parents.
Perhaps it is an all school event designed to spend a day in a park to get to know each other better.
The WHO who is invited will help you determine the safest and most cost-effective mode of transportation.
It will help you see that there will be sufficient adult supervision to have a safe outing.
If all parents can not be invited, how will they be chosen? Will they need to pay their own expenses? And please determine WHO will be the point person who is responsible for making all final decisions? WHAT: What will be the purpose of the trip? Will it be educational only or will it perhaps be a cultural and social event? Trips take a lot of extra energy and money so just what does the teacher expect her class to get out of the trip? How will the trip experience be extended in future school activities? WHERE: Where will be the trip destination and how long will it take to get there? Will that leave enough time to accomplish what the teacher wanted to happen? Is the estimated travel time reasonable for the amount of time you will be able to stay at your destination? (W) HOW: Has the trip been approved by the program director and parent permission slips received.
What will happen to the child whose parent does not give permission for the trip? Does the transportation provide car seats or seat belts? Just how is the teacher going to get the children to their trip destination? Will she be responsible for making a bus reservation, securing the insurance company approval, and collecting admission fees? What is the timeline on doing all these items so that on trip day there are no loose ends? WHY: Is there a good reason to take this trip and is this trip really age appropriate for the children? Can the children physically make the trip without falling asleep? It may sound strange, but often teachers want to make trips to places they have not been to just because they want to see it.
Once the teachers and school administrators have determined that the proposed trip is worthy of doing, parents will no doubt have all their possible concerns addressed in a formal communication.