How to Take a

Virtual Field Trip

from the

Classroom

Reasons for Virtual Field Trip

lack of funding

lack of time

higher demand of in classroom

learning to improve test scores

Pick a topic that you are studying for

your virtual field trip

Virtual Field Trip to the Smithsonian

Fossils

Science

Lesson Plans Your lesson plans must correlate to

the reason for needing a virtual

field trip

Lesso

n Plans

Plan Ahead Plan ahead in your lesson plans

for your field trip

Get Excited! Get your students excited about the field trip

by reading books that are based on the virtual

field trip destination

Classroom Setting Create a classroom setting based on your field trip

Have your students bring in items to help decorate

Make students part

of the process

Assignments Create classroom assignments

based around the virtual field trip

Brochures Contact where you are basing

your virtual field trip from and

ask if they have any free

brochures to send you for each

student

Have students make their own

brochure after the field trip is

complete

Smithsonia

n Brochure

Parent Involvement

Contact parents for

pictures on the

designated virtual

field trip (they may

have been there)

Souvenirs Get parents involved by having parents

make crafts that students would normally

purchase on field trips

For example, if you cannot visit a coal

mine, have parents collect coal and put in

baggies

Guest Speakers Invite guest speakers from the

virtual field trip destination

PowerPoint Create a PowerPoint

presentation with pictures from

the virtual field trip destination

Video Conferencing

See if your virtual field trip destination

can use web cam to conference and

allow students to ask questions about

the destination

Permission Slip Create a permission

slip in Microsoft Word

and send home for

parents to sign

The permission slip

will encourage parents

and children to talk

about the virtual field

trip

Virtual Field Trip Journal Have students create a notebook to

draw pictures and journal about what

they saw on their virtual field trip

The notebook journal can be used

throughout all of the activities leading

up to the virtual field trip

Follow Up Activities After the virtual field trip, provide

students with enriching follow up

activities

Do not let the field trip be the end of the

learning experience

Assessment Create an assessment at the end of the

virtual field trip

After all, the goal of any field trip is to

correlate to the lesson plans

Summation I hope these tips will help you in your

quest to have an “out of classroom

experience” while in the classroom

Happy Virtual Field Tripping!