The Whippoorwill Academy and Village is a great place to take students. Just walking on the grounds takes students back to the times of Daniel Boone.  Not only are the buildings of this era, but Ms. Carter has taken the initiative to produce educational videos  about all sorts of North Carolina legends and histories. By going to the Academy the students can see how people lived, through the replica of the Boone family cabin, but they can also learn the legend of Tom Dooley, the Blowing Rock, the Brown Mountain lights, the Lost Colony and of course all about Daniel Boone.  Without being as structured as a classroom the students are free to act as if they were residents of this tiny village back in the 1800’s.
      Almost all subject areas can be covered by a trip to the Whippoorwill Academy.  The most obvious would be the use of history and social studies.  The teacher could prepare the students beforehand with studies about rural life in the 1800’s, what they wore, what they ate, how they lived in general.  The teacher could also easily incorporate science lessons into this field trip. Botany could be taught by explaining what plants the residents would eat, use for  medicine, and which ones are poisonous.  Also simple physical science could be applied to the use of water pumps and wood stoves.  The teacher could help the students make comparisons between how we do things now and how things were done in the early 1800’s, without our modern conveniences.  Language Arts lessons can easily be incorporated through the students reading and writing about their experiences at the Whippoorwill Academy.  Art lessons are also easy to do on a field trip like this one.  I think art projects dealing with this time period to be most appropriate.  Some examples I thought of are: pressed flowers, making balls, making dolls and even making things for Daniel Boone’s cabin.
ACTIVITIES:
    While the students are on the bus on the way to the Academy the teacher should have activities prepared to keep the students quiet on the bus.  Good activities include: I Spy, road side scavenger hunts, the alphabet game or the teacher could have written assignments for the students to do.  The teacher has to have something for the students who get car sick as well.
     Upon arrival at the Academy the teacher should have the students take a bathroom break so that the days activities are not so disrupted by the little yelps that someone has to go to the restroom.
    After this ritual is completed the teacher should assign each student to a group.  Three groups is a good number and should keep the students from running into each other.  Each group should have  a parent chaperone.  The groups can be rotated between watching the video, doing the art project, and touring the buildings.  At lunch the groups will be brought back together to eat and then play games on the field.
LUNCH
    Each child will be responsible for bringing his/her own bag lunch, this will be included on the permission slip.  If a child forgets or cannot bring a lunch from home, the teacher should ask the cafeteria to prepare a few extras.  Before leaving school in the morning the teacher and chaperones should go around and write each child’s name on his/her lunch bag and staple the bags shut so no one loses any part of their lunch (just asking for trouble).
GETTING BACK
     To ensure that the students get back to Boone by 2:30, the bus should definitely leave the Academy by the latest 1:00pm.  Even if the students get back too early this will give them some down time to calm down for the ride home.  As with the bus ride down the teacher should have some sort of activity planned so the children will not bother the bus driver.  This would be a good chance for the students to share their days experiences and for the teacher to gather feedback on whether or not the field trip accomplished the goals of the teacher.

    On April 17th,  1998,   Ms. Butler’s third grade class will take a field trip to The Whippoorwill Academy and Village.

Our journey will carry us to Ferguson, NC.  The class will depart from the front parking lot at 8:30am after the students have

arrived at school.  We will return to the school in time for the students to catch their normal rides home at 2:30pm.  Each

student should pack a bag lunch to bring with them, please put your child’s name on the bag and staple it shut.  There is

country store on the grounds of the Whippoorwill Academy so you may want to give your child a few dollars to spend.

______________________ has my permission to attend the field trip to Whippoorwill Academy.

______________________ does not have my permission to attend the field trip to Whippoorwill Academy.

____ I can volunteer to be a chaperone to Whippoorwill Academy.

____ I will help provide snacks for the field trip.
 

Parent/Guardian signature ______________________     Date ____________