Providing Learning Activities through Community Explorations (PLACE) Part 1

My goal is to provide a learning environment that is culturally rich and educationally stimulating for preschoolers. I work in an elementary setting with children in a Title 1 program. The students that I teach are at risk educationally, socially and/or behaviorally. Included in my class are children who speak English as a second language and children who have been identified as having special needs. This program provides the support necessary to enable these children to enter kindergarten with the skills that they will need to be successful. It is my hope to provide field experiences in our community so that my students will be able to explore activities mentioned in our literacy units. Field trips enrich the curriculum and encourage parent participation. These field experiences are important because they give the children an opportunity to experience concepts like life on a farm, what it's like to ride on a boat, to view animals in their natural habitat and to experience the flavors of different cultures. Many of these learning opportunities give children hands-on experiences that they may never encounter in their lifetime. They create memories that will last forever. Attending these field experiences empower parents to take an active role in their child's education. They witness first time learning experiences that they would normally hear about in their child's daily report. These field trips impact student's learning by increasing their self-esteem and improving oral language. By having parents participate in these experiences, children feel better about themselves. Their self-esteem is lifted because they are given special "me" time to share with their parents. Parents have the opportunity to use what they have learned from these experiences in their home setting. Children will be able to return to the classroom and discuss concepts that had previously been introduced in literacy presentations. From these hands-on encounters they will be able to elaborate more as they describe their observations thus increasing their oral language. Four year olds as well as children who speak English as a second language and children with disabilities benefit by being able to see, touch, hear, taste and smell situations that are introduced in a text book. Field trips provide them with an opportunity to make literature more meaningful. In order to succesfully provide these experiences, funding is needed to cover costs for transportation as well as admission fees to community sites for my 19 students. I strongly feel that children learn best when given opportunities to actively explore their environment. Providing them with experiences outside of the classroom is the best teaching tool for the population that I serve. Using field trips to enhance the curriculum is a perfect reinforcement to meet the needs of the chlidren that I teach.