Background knowledge is a key to comprehension.  The Reading Leadership Team at W. F. Burns-Oak Hill knew that the more experiences the students have to build background knowledge, the more they can relate to content in the books they were reading.  In an effort to support the building background knowledge of the students, the Reading Leadership Team implemented school-based field trips.  Four school-based field trips were planned throughout the school year to provide the hands-on experiences the students need to build background knowledge.   The school-based field trips provided the concrete experience that the students needed to delve deeper in the content.  The Reading Leadership Team accessed free materials from public organizations (pamphlets, brochures, activity books, and books) for the teachers to use to provide follow-up to the school-based field trips.

There are many fun and interesting ways to build background knowledge for students, provide hands-on experiences, and to connect to science and social studies.  The four experiences that the Reading Leadership Team organized for the students at W. F. Burns-Oak Hill are…

1. The Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach.  The goal was to motivate and hook students into science early in the school year.  The museum set-up fourteen different centers based on the science Sunshine State Standards for the students to experience.  The students rotated through the centers and the teachers connected the learning in the classroom by providing opportunities to participate in science experiments and integrated content area text reading.  Follow-up in the classrooms included processing the experience in science logs and additional reading of connected science text. 

2. Ponce DeLeon Lighthouse.  The goal was to build background knowledge of the history of Volusia County.  A volunteer from the Ponce DeLeon Lighthouse presented a thirty minute slide show to each grade level on the history of Florida lighthouses with an emphasis on how lighthouse workers lived and the lighthouses in Volusia County.  The presenter also included artifacts within the presentation to visually support the discussions.  To provide for follow-up experiences, a traveling library that contained books from various genres and at various reading levels was loaned to the school for one month and lesson plans for all content areas that focused on lighthouses were provided by the Ponce DeLeon Lighthouse.

3. Natural History Day.  The goal was to familiarize the students to the history and natural environment of the Oak Hill community.  The center rotation included birds of prey (eagles, hawks, and owls) from the Florida Audubon Center in Maitland, a Native American encampment with Chief Little Redwolf, and storyteller Diane Talley presenting stories from the past.  The students were also transported by bus to the Seminole Rest site at Canaveral National Seashore where they were introduced to the historical significance of this special site and Canaveral National Seashore rangers presented information on the natural habitats of the Indian River Lagoon.  Follow-up experiences included having students find personal artifacts and discussing the history behind them with family members, interviewing elder members of the family or community about their past experiences and sharing the historical perspective in the classroom with their classmates. 

4. The Marine Discovery Center.  (Spring) The goal is to continue connecting to science through marine exploration.  The students will engage in various centers that will be provided by the Marine Discovery Center.  The students in grades three through five will be provided the experience of a boat trip on the local river to explore the habitat and study the marine and wild life