After a year of quarantine and social distancing, even the most brightly-decorated classroom walls can feel like they’re closing in. Fortunately, DonorsChoose teachers across the country have figured out 2021’s version of the Magic School Bus: Virtual Field Trips.
Are you dreaming of having an author Zoom into your remote classroom? Wishing your students could spend a day with penguins at the aquarium? Looking for a way to escape Earth and spend a day on Mars?
Now you can create a virtual class trip or virtual class visitor project for your students on DonorsChoose. As part of your virtual class trip or virtual class visitor project, you’ll be able to request funding for the activity, event, or experience. As part of your virtual class trip for your students, you can also request supplemental items like funding for snacks to accompany your voyage! (What’s a field trip without the snacks?) For the best chance of success, we recommend keeping your total project cost below $600.
If you already know your dream (virtual) destination, the DonorsChoose virtual field trip help center can help you get started today.
Or if you’re just starting to create your classroom’s ‘travel’ bucket list, here’s one of our favorite round-ups: 25+ Amazing Educational Virtual Field Trips. From the International Space Station to the San Diego Zoo, Yellowstone to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the whole world can fit right on your screen.
Your fellow DonorsChoose teachers have some extra special project ideas to share:
- Hamiltour: a Virtual NYC walking tour to dive deeper into the Broadway Musical Hamilton (Mrs. Schwarz, 8th Grade)
- The Challenger Center: an absolutely amazing virtual community mission to Mars (Ms. Woods, 6th Grade)
- The Gentle Barn: an incredible virtual experience where students will learn about kindness to one another, animals and our planet (Ms. Minas, 5th Grade)
- Zoom Visit: Oscar-Nominated Filmmaker to speak about his film on Emmett Till, offer insight into racism in American history, discuss recent events, and talk about the need for a relentless daily fight against ignorance. (Ms. Jess Hinds, 9th Grade)
- Crayola Factory: a kit of goodies to experience all Crayola has to offer while taking a virtual guided tour through the factory (Ms. O’Sullivan, Kindergarten)
Class field trips – even those made possible by WiFi instead of school buses – create favorite memories, get students engaged, and bring learning to life. Mrs. Schwarz from New Jersey said it best: “It would be my honor, in a year already so strife with difficult times due to the pandemic, to put a little sparkle into my students' day with a virtual field trip.”
Inspired to create a virtual field trip or virtual class visitor project? Get started today!
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