Take an action-packed field trip with 826michigan to build your students’ enthusiasm for writing!
We offer a variety of energy-filled field trip options, focused on both independent and collaborative writing. Students get to experience the power of sharing ideas and developing those ideas into a full-length story!
What happens on an 826michigan field trip?
826michigan organizes field trips to various community partners throughout the school year. Students write in large groups, small groups, and individually, and are supported by a team of trained 826michigan volunteers. You can choose from a variety of fun, interactive programs to suit the needs and interests of your students. Our field trips are provided at no cost to schools or teachers.
Examples include:
PJ Day – 1st Grade Field Trip
The students arrive (in their pajamas, if possible) and learn that our grumpy editor, Dr. Blotch, needs help falling asleep. Students work collectively with a storyteller and a typist to draft a bedtime story for Dr. Blotch, building imaginative characters, setting, and conflict into the tale. At the end of the field trip, the story is read to Dr. Blotch, who finds it remarkable in every way.
Length of time: 70 minutes
Storytelling & Bookmaking – 2nd Grade Field Trip
Students come into our writing lab and are greeted by a very relieved 826michigan facilitator: Dr. Blotch, our grumpy editor-in-chief, has forced all of 826michigan staff to become master knitters, so we’re behind on our story deadlines! Though we’re hoping our field trip students might distract Dr. Blotch, she soon interrupts to remind the class that we owe her a story in ONE HOUR! Oh dear! Can the students help the team write a fantastic story, one that will please the un-please-able Dr. Blotch?!
Length of time: 70 minutes
New Monuments – 3rd or 4th Grade Field Trip
Across the country, we’re seeing a shift in our national understanding of who deserves to be honored with a monument. In this field trip, students will explore what a monument is and can be, dreaming up new possibilities for local ways to honor heroes and specialties, from the playful (a Coney Dog Monument in Detroit) to the serious (an Elijah McCoy Monument in Ypsilanti). We’ll envision these new possibilities, and then write about why we think these monuments should be built.
Length of time: 90 minutes
Writing Like a Scientist – 4th or 5th Grade Field Trip
Students will use their own questions and ideas about animals interacting with their habitats to solve a problem through writing. They will help one another learn about animals and their habitats by using laboratory notebooks to take observation notes, ask questions, and write descriptions of what they see, smell, hear, feel, and think. This program takes place at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, requiring transportation, travel time, and lunch for each student as well as chaperones.
Length of time: 120 minutes
If you are a public- or charter-school teacher in one of our service cities (Ann Arbor, Detroit, and Ypsilanti), feel free to reach out to your area’s Program Manager for more information about possible partnerships. Note: We prioritize working with our existing school and teacher partnerships each school year. Most programs are scheduled before the school year begins.