Family Field Trips

Day 6 of #BTBC14 

Summer vacation plans

     My husband and I are both teachers and are of limited means, so we don't really travel over the summer.  We do love to go places here in Chicago, though, with the family.  We make lots of day trips, and I love to photograph them.  That pretty much sums up our summer.  We travel the greater Chicago area, looking for adventure in both big and little places.  I snap a ton of photos along the way.  Here are my Top 10 places to go on a Family Field Trip, but not in any particular order.

1.  Parks (We will travel for a good park.  If you know one, tell me about it!).
2.  The Brookfield Zoo
3.  Morton Arboretum
4.  Museum of Science and Industry
5.  Lake Katherine
6.  Legoland
7.  Pirates Cove
8.  Children's Museums
9.  Carnivals/ Fests
10.  Library

     I always try to bring this back to the focus of my blog, which is literacy.  So, because my kids are little, perhaps the biggest reason I bring them places like these (besides making memories, of course) is to build their vocabulary.  When we are out and about, we stumble across new words all the time.  It's fun going on an adventure and hearing those new words in their language a few days later.  Both of my kids are huge LEGO and Playmobil fans, and they like to recreate the places we go with their LEGOs.  When they play, they often use their new vocabulary.  What a great reason for our little ones to play!  :)

So, THINK...

Do you know of places that we should visit this summer in the Chicagoland area???

     Last summer I was at a PD and I sat next to +Dennis Puhr.  It somehow came up that on his eChalk page, he and his coteacher, +Michelle Bozic list all the places that their families can go over the summer.  They have it all listed under Family Field Trips.  Check it out!  We went a few fun places last year from their list.  

    If you have a great place that we should go, leave it in the comments!  Thanks!!!