Botanic Garden Field Trip

Last week we had our school-wide Museum Night.  I have to admit that this year's exhibit was not as complete or cohesive as I would have liked.  Nevertheless, we did have some fun experiences as we prepared for our exhibit.  

One of our trips was to the National Botanic Garden.  Our goal for this trip was to connect our unit on living and nonliving things with our study of geography.  The kiddos were assigned to take pictures of plants from each of the regional areas featured at the Garden (jungle, desert, southern hemisphere, Hawaii).  Then they had to create a descriptive caption for the picture.  

We purchased some disposable cameras, but most of the chaperones also brought Smart phones or digital cameras which they let the kiddos use.  The kiddos loved being in charge of the cameras (and I got some adorable pictures of them taking pictures)!  After they had taken all their pictures, they also work with their group to answer few questions about the similarities and differences of the flowers, trees, and plants from around the world.  

If we do this trip again, however, we will need to get the pictures developed right away.  Although it was great practice for the kiddos to take a picture and write captions, by the time we actually got the pictures printed they had mostly forgotten the process.  In addition, I didn't have a totally clear idea of how we would use the pictures, so they mostly served as a resource.  Oh well.  I'll post about the final exhibit soon.