Field Trip Journals

Name: Field Trip Journals
Brand: San Diego Coastal Explorers Presshttps://www.sandiegocoastalexplorers.com/

by San Diego Coastal Explorers Presshttps://www.sandiegocoastalexplorers.com/

ScienceGrades Pre-K–12

About This Curriculum

Field Trip Journals are engaging workbook-style journals that help students reflect on and remember field trip experiences through structured prompts, drawing spaces, and rating systems.

What makes it unique: Multi-level journals spanning K-12 with age-appropriate prompts that create a beautiful keepsake while ensuring learning retention from field trips

Field Trip Journals: Structured Reflection Workbooks for Field Trips

Field Trip Journals are workbook-style reflection tools designed to help students document and process field trip experiences through structured prompts, drawing spaces, and rating systems. Available across four grade-level spans (PreK-12), these journals provide graphic organizer layouts to make field trip documentation more manageable than traditional report writing.

Best for

Homeschool families or teachers who frequently take field trips and want a structured way for students to document and reflect on those experiences across grade levels PreK-12

Evaluation Criteria

2 concerns · 3 neutral · 2 insufficient evidence

Knowledge RichConcern

The curriculum focuses on reflection and documentation rather than building systematic science content knowledge.

The journals are designed for recording field trip experiences with prompts, drawings, and ratings, but do not appear to build cumulative science content across units

Direct InstructionConcern

No evidence of direct instruction components; the curriculum is purely a documentation tool.

The journals consist of structured prompts and graphic organizers for reflection, with no mention of instructional content or teaching guidance

Retrieval PracticeNeutral

The journal format provides some retrieval practice through reflection prompts and year-end summary pages.

Includes 'two pages for reflecting on the entire year's worth of field trips' and structured prompts that require students to recall and process experiences

Hands On IntegrationNeutral

The journals complement hands-on field trip experiences but do not integrate explicit instruction with activities.

Designed specifically to support field trips and help students 'actually learn something' from those experiences, though the review notes journals are likely used after rather than during field trips

Scientific VocabularyNeutral

Limited vocabulary support is provided through a general word wall feature.

Each journal includes a 'Field Trip Word Wall' with challenging words students might want to use, though the same word wall is used across all grade levels

Ngss AlignmentInsufficient Evidence

No evidence of alignment to science standards or structured learning objectives.

The review describes general reflection activities and documentation features but mentions no alignment to science standards or specific learning goals

Teacher TrainingInsufficient Evidence

No teacher training or professional development materials are mentioned.

The review focuses entirely on the student journal features with no mention of teacher guides, background information, or pedagogical support

Sources: cathyduffyreviews.com