Field Trip

I am giddy over my field trip with the kids. I just hope I can find a way to share the video with the kids at school because it is such a large file.

I think I would like to plan about 4 field trips per year.
Saturdays only.
Small groups of about 7-10 kids.
I want to plan these trips around my students' interests and connect it to what we are learning in the classroom.
I want to post the trips at the beginning of the year and have my students "apply" for which field trip they think they should go on and why.
I want one parent volunteer per trip, and I want the trips to last about 4 hours total.
I want parents to drive the students and pick up the students, so they are invested in the day too, AND there will be no additional fees or hassle scheduling a bus.
I want my kids to do follow up projects after the trip that respond to their experience.
I like the small group idea because it allows for more time and attention, and my girls can be involved, which helps me be a better teacher and mother.

Ideas:

Lost River Survival Field Trip - this is perfect to connect to reading - Hatchet, Island of the Blue Dolphins, My Side of the Mountain and so on. This experience is good for boys and girls for sure. I was especially pleased with providing this experience for students who have NEVER been in the wilderness before. I allowed them to really experience the woods. This took much prayer and breath holding. They climbed rocks and logs, jumped streams (in and over), and learned how to start fires with magnifying glasses in an emergency survival situation. Some of this made me nervous, but watching them learn in a way that is so natural for them was simply awe inspiring. Watching their faces as they viewed the entrance to Lost River Cave, put up tents, examined a real live bat hibernating, and made solar s'mores all for the first time was simply an experience I will cherish in my heart for the rest of my life!!

Fairview Cemetery Field Trip:
Math and Reading. Can you say endless scavenger hunt ideas?!!! I've done this in class - I already know what a blast they will have. They can collect evidence with grave rubbings as well. Perfect fall field trip and can be connected to local and state social studies units, math units, and I am sure a million other great ideas.

The Humane Society
Western Kentucky University
Chaney's Dairy Barn (Food origins, agriculture, entrepreneurship)
Disc Golf at the Soccer Complex (with an educational challenge at each hole)