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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, in FCPS, if you live farther away from DC, you get really screwed for field trips. Especially if your school is a late arrival school. You can't leave until all the buses are in, which puts you at a 10 am or later departure. Then your buses have to be back by 1:30 to get to the middle schools on time for their dismissal. So leaving at 1015---arrive in DC an hour later at 11:15 and then you need to leave DC by 12:30....it just doesn't allow for any decent field trip experiences. They should make an exception, I am sure they have some "reserve" buses they could use.

Why not take a field trip to something closer than DC?

? DC is not far. The issue is they need to work it out re: bus rentals if they're not on the DC end of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

When our daughter did this field trip in the fall (which I chaperoned), they got on the buses at 10:15. They arrived at the museum around 11:15 (bus was stuck in traffic in DC, went the wrong way). Waited in the museum lobby for our group's docent for at least 20 minutes. We saw two paintings and a sculpture. There was supposed to be a fourth piece of art, that we didn't get to see. There was no part of the schedule that involved looking around the museum. We were physically at the museum for maybe an hour. Then the kids were herded back on to the buses b/c we were required to be back by 1:30 so the buses could get to the middle school.

It was really terrible. There were kids on our bus who had never seen DC before. It would have been nice for them to get to see more of the museum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The Kennedy Center is a staple 4th grade field trip for years. Every school in the county goes. I’ve been many times and the musical performance never disappoints, but many 4th grades think that EVERYTHING is boring!

My kid didn’t go last year

Our school never goes to the Kennedy Center in 4th. All they do is Jamestown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

[Anonymous]

I used to take my 7th grade students on a field trip to the Smithsonian American Art museum and it was awesome. We previewed a bunch of the paintings beforehand and talked about their connection to concepts we had covered. The museum education dept worked to create a scavenger hunt based on what I’d told them about our curriculum.

Was this Smithsonian American Art, National Gallery, Portrait Gallery?

The DC field trips really are super limited time-wise when you use FCPS busses. You can’t leave before 9:45 or so and have to be back by like 1:45. With traffic and lunch, it doesn’t leave a lot of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there some reason that they can't use parent drivers? I went to a private school and we always had parent drivers. 5 kids to a van. Parents signed liability waivers.

1. Not enough will volunteer.
2. That’s a lot to coordinate and people aren’t reliable.
3. People won’t trust a random parent to drive.
4. Liability, even with your waiver idea.
5. You need subs to stay back with the kids who don’t sign the waivers and don’t accept the parent driver, assuming there are even enough to drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

The Kennedy Center is a staple 4th grade field trip for years. Every school in the county goes. I’ve been many times and the musical performance never disappoints, but many 4th grades think that EVERYTHING is boring!

My kid didn’t go last year

Our school never goes to the Kennedy Center in 4th. All they do is Jamestown.

All fourth grade classes will see NSO at the Kennedy Center. It stopped for Covid and was reinstated this year. If your child didn’t go in the fall, they’ll go in the spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

When our daughter did this field trip in the fall (which I chaperoned), they got on the buses at 10:15. They arrived at the museum around 11:15 (bus was stuck in traffic in DC, went the wrong way). Waited in the museum lobby for our group's docent for at least 20 minutes. We saw two paintings and a sculpture. There was supposed to be a fourth piece of art, that we didn't get to see. There was no part of the schedule that involved looking around the museum. We were physically at the museum for maybe an hour. Then the kids were herded back on to the buses b/c we were required to be back by 1:30 so the buses could get to the middle school.

It was really terrible. There were kids on our bus who had never seen DC before. It would have been nice for them to get to see more of the museum.

Man that really sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to take my 7th grade students on a field trip to the Smithsonian American Art museum and it was awesome. We previewed a bunch of the paintings beforehand and talked about their connection to concepts we had covered. The museum education dept worked to create a scavenger hunt based on what I’d told them about our curriculum.

Was this Smithsonian American Art, National Gallery, Portrait Gallery?

The DC field trips really are super limited time-wise when you use FCPS busses. You can’t leave before 9:45 or so and have to be back by like 1:45. With traffic and lunch, it doesn’t leave a lot of time.

We were told we couldn't leave until 10:15 and had to be back by 1:15. Our kids ate lunch when they got back. It was insanely short.

[Anonymous]

The bus driver shortage is affecting field trips.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

When our daughter did this field trip in the fall (which I chaperoned), they got on the buses at 10:15. They arrived at the museum around 11:15 (bus was stuck in traffic in DC, went the wrong way). Waited in the museum lobby for our group's docent for at least 20 minutes. We saw two paintings and a sculpture. There was supposed to be a fourth piece of art, that we didn't get to see. There was no part of the schedule that involved looking around the museum. We were physically at the museum for maybe an hour. Then the kids were herded back on to the buses b/c we were required to be back by 1:30 so the buses could get to the middle school.

It was really terrible. There were kids on our bus who had never seen DC before. It would have been nice for them to get to see more of the museum.

Another hour in an art museum wouldn't have rectified that but would've given the kids more time to disengage and misbehave. Short and sweet is better than disastrous.

[Anonymous]

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.

It's true at our ES.