I woke up this morning thinking about school field trips that I used to take and how much fun I used to have on them. I can't really remember a bad one!

Does anyone have any good/bad memories of some school field trips they took throughout elementary and middle school (or I guess, even High School?)

hey..this is a great topic Krissy! I'm surprised that no one thought of it before! :D

We took a field trip one time to this Holocaust Museum, and we met a survivor who shared their story with us. It was very eye opening and educational. I loved going to museums and places like that.

Another cool sort of field trip was for science day. We went to Kennywood Park (a nice sized amusement park near Pittsburgh, Pa) and were able to ride and everything, infact the only "school-like" thing we did was solve some different equations and such for our science class. Now THAT was fun! :)

I remember when I was in Girl Scouts we went on a field trip to the local Dairy Queen. They showed us everything behind the scenes, how they made certain things, etc....and the best part was the free ice cream! :D ;D


This year Vaughn went on a few fieldtrips with school. They went to this farm that had neat things for kids to do, they went to the movie theatre to see, Horton Hears A Who....and they went to the recycling plant and learned about garbage and recycling.

The one that I remember the most is going to the Exploratorium in San Francisco in second grade.  My friend and I were the only second graders to go because we were in the advanced third grade reading class and THEY were going, so they invited us along. :)  I remember it seemed to take forever to get there from our little town down the coast, but we had fun once we got there.  I almost didn't get to go because my mom was really sick, but my friend's mom was going and she offered to keep an eye on me.

Another memorable field trip was in my junior year of high school.  Let me set it up for you: I was at a continuation school because my grades sucked, and most of the people that went there were either "troublemakers", kids from other districts that had been expelled, or people with bad grades.  All told, there were about 100 of us at that school.  For some INSANE reason, our dear principal (he was a cool dude and he tried to help us) convinced the district to sponsor a field trip to San Francisco for all of us.  We were to go on a chartered bus to the Golden Gate Bridge, then to Pier 39 and take a ferry boat to Alcatraz, then come back and walk around the waterfront.  So we all get on the bus: about 97 kids (some were so bad that they couldn't go), six teachers, and the principal.  Everything is fine until we get to SF and on to the bridge.  Someone used one of the suicide phones on the Golden Gate to call in and say he was going to jump.  Others were running wild all over the place.  When we got on to the bus a little bit later, we saw an ambulance, police cars, and a firetruck heading for the bridge. ::)  So then we get to the ferry and hop on that and head to Alcatraz.  That was fine and all, until you saw a bunch of my classmates egging on two seagulls fighting in the courtyard.  The other tourists thought they were nuts.  Then they let us run around the waterfront and played merry hell rounding us up later.  We made it home alive, but I don't think the principal ever asked for money to do that again. ;D

The last field trip i went on was from art college. We went to a stately home called Buscot Park to see the art collection. We were all very serious and good until we went out into the grounds and spotted that down to the house was this lovely steep slope. the next thing we all started rolling down it. Imagine the scene, 25 'adults' rolling full pelt towards the house like a bunch of pre-school kids. We thought it was hysterical, the staff were not amused.  ::)

Great responses, everybody!

Erin: I had very similar fieldtrips, too. Ones we took to the Pizza parlour to see how they made the dough, a visit to a local grocery store, and one of my faves was a visit to a Teddy Bear factory in either Oakland or maybe it was San Francisco. A REAL teddy bear factory - not like those design-a-bear things they have now. 

Jessica: Wow, I bet the exploratorium was a lot of fun! I've never been to it before! That other trip to the city was hilarious. I can relate because I went to a "continuation" school, too, and I could see exactly what you're talking about!

The last field trip i went on was from art college. We went to a stately home called Buscot Park to see the art collection. We were all very serious and good until we went out into the grounds and spotted that down to the house was this lovely steep slope. the next thing we all started rolling down it. Imagine the scene, 25 'adults' rolling full pelt towards the house like a bunch of pre-school kids. We thought it was hysterical, the staff were not amused.  ::)


lol, hey, that's what field trips are about - getting to be a little rowdy! I bet that was a ball!  ;D

My favorite school field trip was going to Baltimore Inner Harbor.  It was May so I spent a few hours near the water zoning out. :)

I also remember going to Washington D.C. in high school.  I saw my first Renoir painting then. :)

The BEST of the BEST of all field trips was in 10th grade (in high school) where we went to Great Adventure in N.J. Each of us could bring one guest. I brought a friend of mine who didn't go to our school and my boyfriend at the time brought his sister (who was out of school). We were hoping that my friend & his sister would get along since they didn't meet before that day and it turns out that the four of us just had a BLAST!!!! My boyfriend & his sister taught my friend and I the song "Put Another Log on the Fire" (or whatever the title is) while we were on a ferriswheel and the 4 of us were singing the song at the top of our lungs. A few people said we sounded good when we got off the ride. I cannot hear that song without thinking of that trip. We went on the sky ride and was dropping popcorn on people's head below us. When we got off, there were these two guys who were behind us and watching said that we had it all wrong and we shouldn't have been dropping popcorn but...and they opened their hands to reveal those little packets of ketchup, mustard, or whatever. That was BAD!!!  :D ;D ;D ;D  I don't think they did that but it was funny just thinking about it. Another song that reminds me of that trip was "Ring My Bell" because on the bus (to or from, I can't remember) someone was playing that and everyone started singing it (along with "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James & the Shandells). Like I said, it was the BEST of the BEST of all trips.



Cat

The one that I remember the most is going to the Exploratorium in San Francisco in second grade.  My friend and I were the only second graders to go because we were in the advanced third grade reading class and THEY were going, so they invited us along. :)  I remember it seemed to take forever to get there from our little town down the coast, but we had fun once we got there.  I almost didn't get to go because my mom was really sick, but my friend's mom was going and she offered to keep an eye on me.



   Hey, the Exploratorium, neato!  We went on a field trip there, too.  I think it was for cub scouts...

   Edited to add:  Three field trips come to mind, all grade school.  One was to the Oakland Zoo.  Um, it was a children's zoo, or something.  Dang, I can't remember what it was called but they'd give you (or you'd buy) this big plastic key.  As you were walking you'd use the key in boxes located near the exhibits to start a recording which would tell a story about the animals, or somesuch.  Any NorCal folks remember that..?

   Another grade school field trip involved our class walking up to this girl's house, Shawna, where we partied because it was her birthday.  Her house was famous in Crockett because their property was like a zoo with various small animals; chickens, ducks, goats, peacocks, dogs, cats, pigs, all kinds of fish and lots of birds.  It was pretty cool...

   The other one I remember is a trip to Mission San Jose.  Perhaps a fourth trip, extremely hazy, was to an ice skating (or roller skating) rink... 

Wonderful topic!  ;)  8)

I'll never forget the 3 day camping trip (just before Thanksgiving vacation) I took with my entire 5th grade class. I never really had that full camping experience before, so it was pretty exciting for me. We learned about different things in nature, literally got lost during a long hike (thanks to one of the teachers!), explored caves, and getting a good laugh over sixty kids going crazy over a huge pile of acorns and picking them off the ground like there's no tomorrow.  ;D

My 6th grade class went to a water park on the very last day of school. It was a terribly hot day, so it was perfect day to go. I spent much of the day on those gigantic slides, as well as the wave pool and the video arcade later that day.  :)

Those Girl Scout field trips were just as memorable. I loved going to a Carvel ice cream place, up to the mountains to play in the snow, and going to a ballet production of "Peter and the Wolf", among other things. The one I'll never forget is when one day, my Girl Scout leader picked us all up early in the morning, in our pajamas, and took us out to breakfast to McDonald's. She was the nicest, coolest Girl Scout leader I've ever had. We even had a number of slumber parties at her house. We always made these yummy popcorn balls and watched videos pretty much all night long.  :)  :)  :)

The last field trip i went on was from art college. We went to a stately home called Buscot Park to see the art collection. We were all very serious and good until we went out into the grounds and spotted that down to the house was this lovely steep slope. the next thing we all started rolling down it. Imagine the scene, 25 'adults' rolling full pelt towards the house like a bunch of pre-school kids. We thought it was hysterical, the staff were not amused.  ::)


Mahahahahaahahahahaha! ;D


Jessica: Wow, I bet the exploratorium was a lot of fun! I've never been to it before! That other trip to the city was hilarious. I can relate because I went to a "continuation" school, too, and I could see exactly what you're talking about!


It's really cool when you're young, but it's not as fun when you're older.  We took our son there before we left California for good.  He had a blast.  Rice and I were just like, "Meh."

Yeah, continuation schools are bad for you if you want to graduate.  At least mine was.  I don't think I learned much and I failed to get a decent amount of credits while I was there.  Luckily, I got into an independent study program at the adult school and graduated from there.


   Hey, the Exploratorium, neato!  We went on a field trip there, too.  I think it was for cub scouts...

   Edited to add:  Three field trips come to mind, all grade school.  One was to the Oakland Zoo.  Um, it was a children's zoo, or something.  Dang, I can't remember what it was called but they'd give you (or you'd buy) this big plastic key.  As you were walking you'd use the key in boxes located near the exhibits to start a recording which would tell a story about the animals, or somesuch.  Any NorCal folks remember that..?


I remember those from the San Francisco Zoo.  You could get a key and then use it on the boxes next to certain exhibits.  They would tell you a bit about the animals, their environment and then demonstrate the animal sounds.  I don't think they have them anymore though... :-\\

It's really cool when you're young, but it's not as fun when you're older.  We took our son there before we left California for good.  He had a blast.  Rice and I were just like, "Meh."

I went to the Exploratorium several times during my school years, lots of fun to throw stuff around on the exhibits and do the spinny thing and see some of the toads.  Went once or twice in college with my friends as well, I remember Watt getting yelled at because he picked up a frog or something and the staffer yelled at him because he was going to get hepatitis or something :D

I believe the Exploratorium is open later on Tuesdays, and every first Tuesday of the month is free...

Oh, we took lots of field trips in late Elementary and Junior High. Regardless of where we went, I always loved going, either because of the actual trip and it was exciting getting out of class. Not because I didn't like school 'cause I did (I am a geek :D), but it was fun to go somewhere you don't typically go. Because I was in private school back then, the teachers/staff would just take a few of us kids in their own cars, which was more fun than a school bus. We went to museums, to the zoo and stuff like that, as well as recreational stuff, like one time our class went to a bowling alley.

This is fun though, I wanna try and think of everyplace I've been. There's like 4 or 5 that stand out to me, but I vaguely remember lots more. :)

I went to a Waldorf school for elementary.  They're big on field trips.  You had to get your mom or dad to sign a permission slip.  Sometimes our parents carpooled the trips.  We'd go to everything from a cider processing plant to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston!  As we got into the fifth grade we'd look for opportunities to goof off and make trouble!
8)

My fave trip I took was when I was 10 and my class got to go to the the Space Museum in Houston. It was so much fun. But my mom wouldn't let me go to summer space camp!  :(