Does your kinder do field trips?

[BusyMommy]

I am a kinder teacher on LOA & my oldest will be in kinder next year. In my class, I based my curriculum totally around field trips & speakers. We'd do at least one trip/month.
My neighborhood school just lost one of its K jobshare partners until Christmas and they've asked me to sub. It would be my son's class next year. So, I just had an "interview" down there. They don't do guided reading. They base their language arts program on Zoophonics; ie. letters. Fun way to learn but pretty artificial. And...I asked about field trips. Oh no, it's pretty difficult to do in a jobshare situation. Then, the principal chimed in that since they're such an affluent neighborhood it's not necessary. She feels that kinders only need a max of 2 field trips/year.

And,the big Fish & Game salmon unit I hosted for 5 years in kinder is done only by the 5th graders--not approp. for kinders to share.

:

What is this? Is this normal? Sure, they're still cooking and painting but they've lost such an awesome way to connect w/the community and whatever happened to education being based on the environment????

Oh, another comment...they don't do field trips b/c then parents show up w/all those siblings. : Darn families.

So, back to my original Q: does your kinder class do field trips?

[EFmom]

My kids' kindergarten does a couple of trips a year--one to the public library and another to a farm. That's about it as I recall.

Personally, I'm not big on field trips. We only have half day K, and when they do have field trips, they screw up the regular schedule, and the kids need to be picked up/dropped off at odd times. I work out of the home, and it's a major pain in the neck to have to take off from work just for that. Also, I think the field trip to the library is a waste of time. We take our kids to the public library at least twice a week from the time they are babies, as do nearly all the families in the class.

[Houdini]

When my crew were in Kinder they went on a field trip to the Fruit Farm, Pumpkin Patch, the park once, and to the zoo at the end of the year.

[LiamnEmma]

My ds' kindergarten went on five field trips last year--the zoo, the aquarium (both bus, all-day trips), the police station, fire station and park for an end-of-the-year picnic. They also had a farm come to them with a petting zoo, had an Indian festival where they erected a teepee, made flatbread, sand art, beaded, learned to use (real) bows and arrows, etc. They also put on a play just before winter break (that was not Christmas-y in nature). I loved it. Great jobs on the teachers' parts, lots of enrichment and the kids love school at that school. So yeah, I'm big on field trips, and I could see that all thematic units were designed around the upcoming field trip or event. It makes perfect sense. The school does not sound like a good match for you, but OTOH, sometimes bit of fresh air in the form of you is good to re-invigorate a school that has forgotten that all kids benefit from that type of experience.