Field trips liven up learning

If someone had an aerial view of Red Butte Garden a couple of weeks ago on Arbor Day, it would have resembled a busy anthill as hundreds of children scampered about. One student lost his group, another fell and skinned her knee and dozens called for untimely bathroom breaks. And at the center, holding it together, were tireless teachers and parent volunteers.

"You need a Diet Coke and an Excedrin after you get back, but what the kids get out of it is worth it," said Sue Sato, a parent from Hillview Elementary.

On an average of two to four times a year per classroom, students, parents, teachers and a patient bus driver pack up their lunches, slickers (just in case), snacks and first-aid kits to see sights in the state and augment children's learning.

Field trips are paramount in fourth-grade teachers Winnie Lippold and Sheryl Goodrich's Centerville Elementary classrooms. May is a big month for many Utah classes to board the buses and see the sights, but Goodrich said they make it a yearlong project.

In the fall they asked parents to kick in $20 for the "See Utah Experience," which involves around 10 field trips throughout the year.

The excursions are tightly tied to the fourth-grade core curriculum. Among their trips have been ventures to the Kennecott copper mine, Antelope Island, the Utah Museum of Natural History and the State Capitol.

Goodrich said in planning she aims at two objectives: putting a face on learning objectives and going somewhere the students might never go otherwise.

"We live in Farmington, Davis County, at the edge of the Great Salt Lake, and you would be amazed at how many families haven't gone there (Antelope Island)," said Goodrich. "Kids have been to Hawaii, the Caribbean, Disneyland . . . but they haven't seen some of the close things Utah offers."

They make the trips a learning tool, taking them either at the beginning or the end of a unit.

"(Field trips) at the end cement what they have learned, and if we go at the beginning it gets them interested — I can say, 'Remember when we saw that, well . . . ,' " said Lippold.

"As you can see, this is unique but we can't do it without parents," said Goodrich. The trips call for much volunteer time and extra money.

But for parent Wendy Nagao it's a small price to pay.

"On a field trip they have an association with things outside of the normal realm in the classroom. They need to get out and see what it is they are learning," said Nagao.