We successfully survived our first field trip of the year!
Five classes, twenty chaperones, and 180(ish) excited fifth graders headed to the Henderson Pavillion last week to experience KidsVention.
Prior to the field trip, my students learned about debates, what "pro" and "con" mean, and practiced four debate topics during breakfast.
Careful to steer clear of the current political climate (because it's gotten a bit nasty), the topics were focused on kid-friendly ideas:
1) The United States should end its use of the penny.
2) Students should be required to learn a second language for high school graduation.
3) There should be screen limits for students on school nights.
4) All students participating in sports should earn a trophy.
In class, we talked about how each topic has both pros and cons (because otherwise it'd be a super boring debate).
The kids got clappers at the event, which were promptly confiscated when we got on the bus. Not to worry, they got them back at the end of the school day.
The event was amazingly well organized, high school students debated with government officials about the four topics, and the whole theme of the event was on the importance of civic responsibility and voting.
Many of my parent chaperones thanked me for inviting them along. One described it as a wonderfully safe environment to talk about government because it's been hard to watch the Presidential debates with her children.
After the field trip, our day was devoted to making thank you cards for the chaperones, an empathy lesson from the counselor, and silent reading.
Hooray for field trip days!
No comments:
Post a Comment