Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hated the Jamestown trip as a teacher. Such a long day. It’s very frustrating to take kids to anywhere in DC with a bus from FCPS, because the time you can actually be there is so short. You have to rush the whole time and the kids can’t have lunch until they get back. They are cranky and hungry. There are so many cool places to take kids in DC, but it’s so hard.

I have been on the Kennedy Center trip so many times. The kids cannot get out of line, because they have it all organized by school so that your bus pulls up as you exit. The show is geared to children, but is almost always geared to younger kids, so the fourth-graders are bored. They do try, and the music teachers are supposed to prepare them for what they will see.

I wish they still took kids to planetariums. Those were good trips.

This makes me sad! I grew up in Maryland and felt like every field trip was to a DC museum. And my kids haven’t had that at all!

Me too. MCPS and all of our field trips were to the Smithsonians, to the Kennedy Center, to the zoo. My own kids didnt have the same experience in MCPS. Going to museum, and only looking at three paintings is pitiful. I understand only discussing three paintings, but just looking at 3 is pitiful.

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.

My 4th grader went to the NSO show at the Kennedy Center a few weeks ago, and said it was "amazing." He loved it. I guess they did some Harry Pottery music or something, and the kids were really into it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS's school is doing the Smithsonian Art museum trip next week. it'll be the only field trip i recall since K, maybe they did something in 1st too? And he's in 6th.

Very sad they didn't let the kids do a "make-up" trip to Jamestown for the grades that missed this.

I agree. My daughter was in 4th grade when Covid hit — field trip forms for Jamestown had already been submitted and kids were so excited. She is in 7th grade now and it still comes up a few times a year that she is salty about missing it.

My current 7th graders are also still salty about missing Jamestown and a trip to the aquarium in Baltimore (even though they've been there a ton of times).

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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?

Another 6th grade chaperone parent here… from Laurel Ridge. Sam experience. I thought it was well done and we looked at 3 paintings. I’m not sure the kids could have done more.

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

DP, but have you ever done any of the docent-led programs at the galleries?

We’ve done several with our kids, and they’re more in-depth than looking at a painting for two minutes.

Highly recommend, our kids enjoyed them, and you don’t have to rely on FCPS. And they’re free!

+1 These are really engaging experiences that help kids of all ages learn and think about art--and yes, we have done ones that often just looking at and talking about 3 works of art for an hour or so--maybe referencing a few others in a limited way--like this room has a number of works in this style, let's look at and talk about this particular work of art for 20 minutes. Then walk past other art to get to another room where you spend 20 minutes on a work of art in a room full of related works of art. This has been the case at the major art museums in every major city I've spent time in (though in other cities they are not free!). Sure, you can get the docent tour--or app-- of a tidbit of info and <1 min per work of art, but that's not that engaging--and in my opinion if you're not going to really spend time with the real objects, might as well just scroll through the museum's instagram feed. If you're talking about 1 work of art in a room, you're also seeing about a dozen or more works during that 20 minutes just by glancing around as you think.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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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?

Another 6th grade chaperone parent here… from Laurel Ridge. Sam experience. I thought it was well done and we looked at 3 paintings. I’m not sure the kids could have done more.

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

DP, but have you ever done any of the docent-led programs at the galleries?

We’ve done several with our kids, and they’re more in-depth than looking at a painting for two minutes.

Highly recommend, our kids enjoyed them, and you don’t have to rely on FCPS. And they’re free!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like only kids who go to wealthy FCPS ESes get field trips

Our school is in a well-off area and I'm still shocked by the cost of field trips that they expect us to pay for. For our school it's $90 each to go to Philadelphia (or in 1st grade they went to Mount Vernon, $80), and you pay double if a parent wants to chaperone. They have no lack of chaperones, so I guess the cost isn't really an issue.

That’s nothing. I just paid $900 to send my kid on a band trip to Universal.

Great price! (Fun, too!) How long are they staying? (You couldn’t do it for less/per person as a family.)

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?

Another 6th grade chaperone parent here… from Laurel Ridge. Sam experience. I thought it was well done and we looked at 3 paintings. I’m not sure the kids could have done more.

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

I'm in Richmond and while our city schools obviously have tons of struggles, we've had a lot more field trips this year than it sounds like FCPS has since COVID. To be fair, that's a perk of living in a small, easily navigable city. My kids' schools are close enough to walk to the art and history museums. Both kids will have done about 4 by the end of the year, I'd say . . . science museum, art museum, botanical gardens, Luray caverns, Latin ballet, etc. The cost is usually less than $15, if there is one. If the bus needs to travel far then they'll ask for PTA or other sponsorship because the system doesn't have funds for things like that, unfortunately.

A lot of this is at the initiative of the teachers . . . am I gathering correctly that in FCPS, all the field trips are county-wide and individual teachers can't add on other ones?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like only kids who go to wealthy FCPS ESes get field trips

Our school is in a well-off area and I'm still shocked by the cost of field trips that they expect us to pay for. For our school it's $90 each to go to Philadelphia (or in 1st grade they went to Mount Vernon, $80), and you pay double if a parent wants to chaperone. They have no lack of chaperones, so I guess the cost isn't really an issue.

That’s nothing. I just paid $900 to send my kid on a band trip to Universal.

Anonymous wrote:I hated the Jamestown trip as a teacher. Such a long day. It’s very frustrating to take kids to anywhere in DC with a bus from FCPS, because the time you can actually be there is so short. You have to rush the whole time and the kids can’t have lunch until they get back. They are cranky and hungry. There are so many cool places to take kids in DC, but it’s so hard.

I have been on the Kennedy Center trip so many times. The kids cannot get out of line, because they have it all organized by school so that your bus pulls up as you exit. The show is geared to children, but is almost always geared to younger kids, so the fourth-graders are bored. They do try, and the music teachers are supposed to prepare them for what they will see.

I wish they still took kids to planetariums. Those were good trips.

This makes me sad! I grew up in Maryland and felt like every field trip was to a DC museum. And my kids haven’t had that at all!

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Anonymous wrote:

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?

My child's MS orchestra is going to Kings Dominion for $50. That seems very reasonable to me. $140 for Hershey Park in one day? Ridiculous.

Our MS is charging $100 for Kings Dominion!

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?

Another 6th grade chaperone parent here… from Laurel Ridge. Sam experience. I thought it was well done and we looked at 3 paintings. I’m not sure the kids could have done more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

This is Churchill right? My kid did that trip in 6th. Really good trip, and they got cheese steaks. It’s a well off school so parents will pay. They had several other nice trips I don’t recall now but I’ve been on several lane museum trips precovid. It wasn’t necessarily lack of time or even the school’s fault but the museum programs themselves weren’t very engaging. That said, the kids can be very difficult to corral on these trips.

Anonymous wrote:

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?

My child's MS orchestra is going to Kings Dominion for $50. That seems very reasonable to me. $140 for Hershey Park in one day? Ridiculous.