On Tuesday, Discovery learners left school at 9:00 and walked towards the East Falls Church Metro station. Despite the rain, the energy was high and you could feel the excitement about the day ahead. We got on the train together and arrived at the Museum of Natural History just a few minutes before it opened at 10:00.
We split into three groups and explored the museum until meeting back up for lunch at 11:30. After lunch we hopped back on the metro to go to the AMC Courthouse movie theater where we spent the afternoon watching Strange World. After the movie, we hurried back to the metro to make it back to TVS in time (just barely!) for pick up.
This field trip was the final product of Session 2’s Pitch a Field Trip Writer’s Workshop. At the beginning of Session 2, Discovery learners were introduced to their Writer’s Workshop for the session. Their task would be to research and plan a field trip that they would like to go on and then write a persuasive pitch. They would share their pitch with the studio in hopes of convincing their studio mates to vote for their field trip. The field trip with the most votes would be the field trip for Session 3.
There were a few constraints: It couldn’t be more than an hour away and couldn’t cost more than $20 per learner.
Discovery learners researching field trip activities
Discovery learners jumped right in, googling museums and attractions nearby, navigating websites to figure out how much it would cost, figuring out if we needed a reservation. Was there a student discount? Would it even be open on the day we wanted to go? How would we get there?
Learners learned to use google maps, mapping out routes via metro and bus to the destination of their choice.
They were then tasked with coming up with a schedule. What time would we need to leave TVS? When would we eat lunch? What time would we have to get on the metro to be back in time for pick up?
Now it was time to start drafting their pitches. They thought about what would draw the listener in. What information had to be communicated? What were the unique parts of their trip that would convince people to vote for their trip?
They received feedback from Adventure learners and eventually it was time to share their final pitches. They each shared their pitch and then voted for their top 3 choices.
On the last day of the session it was revealed that two pitches had won and we would combine them into one field trip. In the morning we would go to the Museum of Natural History and in the afternoon we would go to the movies to watch Strange World.
And on Tuesday this past week we did just that! As a Discovery learner said on Tuesday, “It is so cool that at The Village School you can do things like write a pitch for a field trip and then actually go on that field trip.”
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