Field Trips

Visiting the nearby UN Plaza Farmer's Market

Working with recycled materials in the park by City Hall with parent chaperones

Heading to the BART station to visit Mission Pie as part of the Cooking Project

Whalesharks Learning Group at the Infineon racetrack as part of their Racing Project

Leaving for an outing with the Infant-Toddler Center in the background

Walks: As part of our program at the Preschool Center, under special conditions, children participate in walks outside of the Center within the building or, for appropriate age groups, around the immediate area outside the building, such as to the Children’s Division of the Main Branch Public Library, Asian Art Museum, Ballet, Philharmonic, Conservatory of Music, City Hall, Community Garden, and the Civic Center Park. These informal outings in the immediate area outside are confined to within a five-block radius of the Center. At the Infant-Toddler Center, the children regularly take buggy rides around the block and onto the Central Plaza of their building.

Wider travel for either or both centers beyond the immediate area outside of the building is announced in advance and requires C5’s full field trip planning and implementation procedures, which include parent or guardian approval and children having adult chaperones in a one-to-two ratio.

Field trips beyond the immediate vicinity of the centers: C5 carefully organizes special field trips for children that compliment the projects and activities that are of current interest in the classrooms. For example, a current interest in the pre-kindergarten learning group is restaurants. Each day during their project time, the children have been cooking different foods, making aprons, serving lunch to their peers, practicing taking orders on note pads, and learning restaurant hosting and management. The children, teachers, and parents have been planning field trips to a pie making plant to view commercial food preparation and cooking and to a prestigious dinner restaurant to view the meals change-over and set-up for dinner.

Preparation: Extensive care is applied in planning and taking field trips. Permission forms are signed by parents. Parents volunteer to be chaperones in a 1:2 adult to child ratio. Orientation sessions are conducted. Maps, schedules, and emergency contact information are handed out to all adult participants. Adults wear distinctive safety vests and carry emergency gear that includes wireless communications, flags, stop signs, safety lights, and first aid supplies.

In related activities: Many parents plan and conduct play dates for families to get together on weekends, and some dates are for field trips outside of the C5 school and scheduled school time.

Guests: C5 also brings in a wide variety of guests who talk to, present, and work with the children. The categories of visitors a numerous and includes, architecture, construction, transportation, research, animal handling, painting, weaving, film-making, photography, domestic and commercial cooking, musical performing, computer graphics, storytelling, etc.