We're off to Toronto!
As part of our "schema-building" plan for the year, my Grade 3 teaching partner and I have decided to take our students, many of whom rarely leave their local community, downtown Toronto. Riding the public transit bus in Mississauga and then thesubway in Toronto will be a huge experience in itself, and once we get there, students will explore one part of the city "on their own" in a small group with two adults, including a teacher.
Although the trip itself is fairly cheap ($5 a kid to cover transit costs there and back for two systems), the planning has been monumental! For a suburban school that rarely goes anywhere without an official school bus, convincing the powers that be that taking 45 eight-year-olds to downtown Toronto for the day is not only a great learning opportunity but also a SAFE and manageable task has been a rather time-consuming. Nevertheless, all are now on board, and are quite excited about next week's trip. Letters have been sent home, rain dates arranged, money collected, tickets bought, student sketch booklets prepared, and on and on and on... and all that while writing progress reports, which are due to the office next week!
As part of our "schema-building" plan for the year, my Grade 3 teaching partner and I have decided to take our students, many of whom rarely leave their local community, downtown Toronto. Riding the public transit bus in Mississauga and then thesubway in Toronto will be a huge experience in itself, and once we get there, students will explore one part of the city "on their own" in a small group with two adults, including a teacher.
Although the trip itself is fairly cheap ($5 a kid to cover transit costs there and back for two systems), the planning has been monumental! For a suburban school that rarely goes anywhere without an official school bus, convincing the powers that be that taking 45 eight-year-olds to downtown Toronto for the day is not only a great learning opportunity but also a SAFE and manageable task has been a rather time-consuming. Nevertheless, all are now on board, and are quite excited about next week's trip. Letters have been sent home, rain dates arranged, money collected, tickets bought, student sketch booklets prepared, and on and on and on... and all that while writing progress reports, which are due to the office next week!
| Below is a planning document we crafted to prepare the students and teachers for the trip, and plan for follow up activities that will link to the trip. To the write is a copy of the student booklet we prepared to help the kids make links to Social Studies and Science before, during and after the trip. It can easily be modified to suit your needs. 
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If you are a teacher working in a school board outside a large urban centre, consider taking a trip like this -- it will doubtless be life-altering for some students!
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