Field trips should ideally be tailored to compliment the curriculum. In fact, more and more schools are requiring teachers to incorporate state standards into their field trip lesson plans. That being said, field trips should also be fun for the students. Field trips are a chance to get out and do some real-world learning. Make your next field trip both fun and educational with some careful planning.
Many local businesses are happy to host classroom groups. If you are doing a unit on nutrition, consider visiting a local bakery (perhaps one that features whole-grains or is known for its healthy offerings). Another option for food lessons is to visit a grocery store. Banks are great for units on money, and newspaper or publishing companies are wonderful places to visit when learning about writing, especially if your students are producing their own classroom newspaper.
If you are lucky enough to live near a national forest or park, contact a ranger to help you teach your students about local flora, fauna and wildlife. A short, easy hike makes a great field trip. Take along some notebooks to record what you've learned and sketch a few interesting plants or trees. Other common outdoor field trips include animal and vegetable farms, both of which could compliment curricular units on the use of natural resources and green living.
Museums and theaters are traditional field trip destinations, and with good reason. Most are set up to accommodate, entertain and educate large groups of children. Check with your local community theater to see if any children's theater groups are coming to perform any classic works. Often, these groups perform adapted works based on books you may have already studied in the classroom. Museums, along with their usual exhibits, have rotating exhibits as well. Check with the museum's schedule to see if any of their rotating exhibits will complement any of your upcoming curricular units in science or social studies.
There are many groups that will come to you to perform at your school. This is common in communities where there are no museums or theaters close by. For example, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), which is located in Portland, has a traveling education program that visits school districts throughout the state. This allows those districts that are much too far from Portland to still experience some of what the museum has to offer. Check with museums in the major city nearest yours to see if they offer similar programs.
