Did your FCPS go on a really pitiful field trip this year to the Smithsonian art museum?

[Anonymous]

Which 3 paintings?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I would complain as well. My 3rd grade DS went to the natural history museum and there were pics from several different exhibits. They ate lunch there and it was all free.

We were told they could only spend less than an hour at a DC museum because of the timing for using the buses, therefore, the school didn't bother going to museums at all. I guess except for this field trip, my kid isn't in 6th yet.

The schools that care and have well off PTAs charter buses for every field trip

Not true! Only longer distances warrant the chartered buses. All local trips to museums, zoos, and pumpkin patches are on school buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child's MS Orchestra class is going to Hershey Park in June. It's $140 for the student and an additional $40 to chaperone. It's a Title 1 school. I have no idea how many students will actually go. I will struggle to find that kind of money and no, the PTA doesn't really exist to help with scholarships. It's ridiculous.

What do you find ridiculous? That the school coordinated the trip or that those attending are expected to pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, $60 a kid is a lot. PTA can afford to pay for that?

No, the parents pay. The PTA may pay if there’s a true hardship for a family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child's class went to the Kennedy Center, although now tbh I can't recall if it was this school year or last school year. That said, he said it was miserable bc it was boring and there was lots of sitting. He said they were stuck on the bus for an hour to get there, then they walked straight from the bus to the seats and were stuck there for the performance, then they walked back to the bus and had to sit there for an hour to get back to school.

what else would you do? You are going to the Kennedy Center for a show!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why did OP's school want $5.00 to take an FCPS bus on a field trip? Is that a thing?

this may have been the class T-shirt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child's MS Orchestra class is going to Hershey Park in June. It's $140 for the student and an additional $40 to chaperone. It's a Title 1 school. I have no idea how many students will actually go. I will struggle to find that kind of money and no, the PTA doesn't really exist to help with scholarships. It's ridiculous.

There is no title 1 middle school but there may be high FARMS which would cover the costs for these trips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did OP's school want $5.00 to take an FCPS bus on a field trip? Is that a thing?

this may have been the class T-shirt.

No. It was some kind of bus fee.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher I really have no interest in planning a field trip. It costs money just to use FCPS buses. Our PTA hasn’t been able to build up funds again to support field trips.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher I really have no interest in planning a field trip. It costs money just to use FCPS buses. Our PTA hasn’t been able to build up funds again to support field trips.

That’s too bad. I still have fond memories of my own field trips as a child, and my own kids get really excited for them, too.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We had the same experience. My husband took my kids again on the next day off so they could have a much better experience. FWIW my son said the kids were not well behaved so maybe starting small was a good idea. These were 6th graders who hadn’t been on a trip since 3rd grade.

Starting small? This is the only field trip they will take all year.

Do other schools' 6th graders get another field trip?

DC has similar museum experience last week. Sixth grade. However, they are going to Philadelphia in May.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My 6th grader went on a trip to the National Portrait Gallery. Was there for about an hour. Came back to school and ate lunch. He loves school, but said this trip was lame.

No class trip to Jamestown this year. He is very disappointed and seems to think it is because class behavior is horrible. Don’t know if that’s true, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Does your school send 6th graders to Jamestown? Only 4th graders go at our school. Of course, the current 6th graders got cheated out of that trip and didn't have any trips last year either.

6th graders at my kid’s school go to Philly. Also, covid cheated a lot of people out of many experiences. You can still take your kid to Jamestown anytime you want.

Who pays for a trip to Philly? The charter buses for that must be expensive.

It is $83/student or chaperone. Part of the expense was subsidized by the recent Boosterthon.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kid didn't get to go to Jamestown so I don't know how that works, but I am shocked that kids go to Philly. You stay overnight?

No, but it is a very full day, early morning and evening return.

Isn't that like six or seven hours on a bus in one day? That's terrible. Pass.

I am curious about the cost. Does FCPS or the school pay any of it? What about the kids who don't pay? What do they do in Philly?

They are going to the Franklin Institute and the Constitution Center with a stop for lunch in between.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Our school did a similar field trip this year, but it was really great. The museum has a great program where they really went into detail about certain paintings. I think it’s way better than having kids randomly wander around. They learned a lot and really learned how to appreciate paintings.

But to go all the way to the museum and spent less than an hour there and only see 2-3 paintings sounds really lame to me. Do you work at Gatehouse? Like sure, start the program that way, then let them see the rest of the museum!

I was a chaperone and definitely don’t work at gatehouse (I think most of them should be let go). We were at the museum for more than an hour. Probably closer to two. And it was pretty great. The other parents thought so too. And the kids were pretty engaged and happy to be on a field trip. Did your buses get stuck in traffic or something?

You were at the museum for two hours and only saw three paintings, and thought it was great?

DP: I didn't go on this field trip, but as an artist and an art educator, getting students to look deeply at and discuss a work of art in detail is what we want. They probably used a rich discussion process that got students talking and thinking about the work and making connections. That's what makes an artwork meaningful and memorable. I'm sure students walked by and "saw" many other artworks in the museum as it's not likely to be three pieces right next to each other, they just focused in detail on those few.

As an artist and art educator, do you think the field trip described by the parent who spent less than an hour at the museum was well-designed?

There was one parent who described it positively which sounded like a fairly well-designed experience to me (though not much info so who knows) and another parent who said their bus got stuck in traffic and the docent was late which obviously is not. But the second one sounded like there were obvious logistic problems (at least from the parents' accounting), so more a matter of luck/disorganization than FCPS design.

I was just responding to "seeing just 3 pieces" aspect--that's about how many art pieces kids could meaningfully look at and discuss. I think being in the institution, learning the norms for behavior and absorbing some of the work they walk past also has some value--especially for kids without prior art museum experience. And most kids don't really have more than an hour in them to look at and talk about art. My own children are now teenagers who love art museums and will spend a lot of time in them, but as young kids I would take them and we'd only look at 2-3 pieces, talk about them, sketch in a sketchbook in response and only stay for 30 min to an hour unless we popped into the museum cafe. Spending a long day in an art museum is a way to get many young kids not to ever want to go again is what I found.

I personally like it when they include a studio making response to the art to help extend the experience, but with large groups that's not really possible. The art teacher might extend what they did on the field trip in their next class---that is what happened when my kids were in ES (they are in HS now).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My kid didn't get to go to Jamestown so I don't know how that works, but I am shocked that kids go to Philly. You stay overnight?

No, but it is a very full day, early morning and evening return.

Isn't that like six or seven hours on a bus in one day? That's terrible. Pass.

I am curious about the cost. Does FCPS or the school pay any of it? What about the kids who don't pay? What do they do in Philly?

They are going to the Franklin Institute and the Constitution Center with a stop for lunch in between.

That sounds great. Jamestown is just as far away and people like that.