Educational activities during trip

[G719]

The policy in my children's school district is if an absence is for a trip of educational value, the absence is an excused absence. The parent is to submit a plan that outlines activities and what content standards are covered. Then it's up to the principal to approve. So far I have made a list of the content standards that we can cover and have some activities planned. For math, each will keep track of their own spending money. This will cover addition, subtraction, and estimation. For reading, we will read all the informational text around Epcot and AK. We are interested in the Wilderness Explorers activity at AK too. This should cover some science standards. For writing, they will keep a journal about the trip. For social studies, we will explore the countries and they will write about their favorite country. Does anyone have any ideas for other activities of educational value? Thanks for your help!

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

Grades?

 

[G719]

K and 3. The k reads on about 2nd grade level.

 

[msmama]

At Epcot you could have them color the duffy bear (or perry I think they have now, too). Then they can go get a stamp from each country. I also have had my son learn how to say "Hello" in every language (we don't remember once we walk out the door, lol).

For countries that use a different alphabet, they'll write your child's name, too (China, Japan and Morocco).

You could have them count hidden mickeys (or other objects).
Estimate wait times.
Identify countries in Small World.

Is Wilderness Explorer at AK the one where they go around getting stamps at stations throughout the parks? Rafiki's planet watch has lots of science-y stuff.

Maybe your kindergartner could draw pictures of his/her favorite rides. Or do a collage of different shapes when they get home. (My kindergartner seems to do a ridiculous amount of cutting and pasting).

 

[mm1971]

The policy in my children's school district is if an absence is for a trip of educational value, the absence is an excused absence. The parent is to submit a plan that outlines activities and what content standards are covered. Then it's up to the principal to approve. So far I have made a list of the content standards that we can cover and have some activities planned. For math, each will keep track of their own spending money. This will cover addition, subtraction, and estimation. For reading, we will read all the informational text around Epcot and AK. We are interested in the Wilderness Explorers activity at AK too. This should cover some science standards. For writing, they will keep a journal about the trip. For social studies, we will explore the countries and they will write about their favorite country. Does anyone have any ideas for other activities of educational value? Thanks for your help!

I won't even get into the Disney being educational debate, but you may want to prepare yourself for it.

One of the things we did (not for school credit, our teachers were always OK with it), at AK the kids did an animal diary. They took pictures of each animal they saw and then wrote some information they learned about each one. We still have the diaries and they are a fun souvenir from the trip.

We have one item from each country that they photographed as well and described why it is significant to that country and it's traditions from WS in Epcot.

My nieces are home schooled and they used budgets, had to determine cost of things with tax prior to buying and calculate the change. The when they purchased something had to record if they were correct and if not, what they missed.

That's kind of what I remember.

 

[MommaBerd]

(Forgive me - I'm typing this on my phone and I can't recall if you have daughter, son, both. I'm just going to use "he".)

Don't forget about the Hall of Presidents - what are 5(?) things you learned about the Presidents? If they haven't learned them already, find a song to learn the names of the Presidents and listen to it during travel.

CoP (you'll have to forgive me on this one because my memory isn't so clear about the specifics in the CoP) - Writing - especially for your older child: Explain the role of technology in our lives over the past x number of years. Or, probably better, write one or two sentences about the role of technology portrayed in each scene.

Write an original short story using the characters you met. For a young child, just have him dictate to you the experience in his own words.

There is SO much science in AK. I made a simple sheet for my kids for when we go to the zoo. It has: name of animal (scientific name too if you want & it's available), what continent/country (geography), habitat (e.g., grasslands, tropical rain forest, etc.), diet - herbivore/carnivore/omnivore, an interesting fact. You can also let them take a picture of the animal .

For your older child, he could compare a show (FOTLK or B&tB) to its original movie. Or, pretend he's writing a review for the school newspaper, and what he liked/disliked & would he recommend.

The writing is tough because its so time consuming - you could possibly record their thoughts on a smart phone.

Anyhow, hope this gives you some ideas.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[G719]

Thanks for the tips everyone!