How can I get my students even more excited about our trip to Chicago?
Architecture, art, science, and more are all excellent topic areas to explore in-depth on a school trip to Chicago.
To make the trip even more meaningful, focus on a key learning area before departure. Design a class project or work with other teacher to focus on the topic area across all classes for a day or more.
Many of the sites that you will visit in Chicago ave developed lesson plans to further student engagement. Provide a deeper understanding of a particular content area by using one of the free Chicago lesson plans provided below.
Chicago Lesson Plans
Adler Planetarium, Topics Include:
Art Institute of Chicago, Topics Include:
- Bisa Butler’s Safety Patrol
- Lesson Plan: Silk Around the World
- Cobalt and the Color Blue
- Lesson Plan: Frame it in Gold
- Following the Phoenix
- Cultural Identity, US-Japan Relations, and Visual Art
- Chocolate, Ceramics, and Colonialism in Eighteenth Century Mexico
- Teacher Manual: American Art
- Teacher Manual: Winslow Homer The Herring Net
- Lesson Plan: Industry and Environment
Resource Packets
- Zapata by José Clemente Orozco
- We Will Not Become What We Mean to You by Barbara Kruger
- Two Figures (Menhirs) by Barbara Hepworth
- Train Station by Walter Ellison
- Three-Quarter Armor
- The Herring Net by Winslow Homer
- Starry Night and the Astronauts by Alma Thomas
- Shukongojin
- Self-Portrait by Archibald J. Motley, Jr.
Chicago Architecture Center Lesson Plans, Topics Include:
Social Studies
- The Great Chicago Fire(upper elementary)
- Immigrant Architecture(upper elementary)
Science and Math
- Bodies and Buildings (lower elementary)
- Shapes in Architecture (lower elementary)
- Shadows (lower elementary)
- Skyscraper Structures (upper elementary)
- Nature’s Impact on Buildings (upper elementary)
Language Arts
- Changes Over Time (lower elementary)
- Building Material Textures (lower elementary)
- Family Homes and Histories (lower elementary)
- Famous Chicago Architects (upper elementary)
- Skyscraper Poem (middle school)
Fine Arts
- Drawing with Words (lower elementary)
- Wearing Buildings (upper elementary)
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Windows (upper elementary)
Field Museum of Natural History Lesson Plans, Topics Include:
- Advantages of Levers
- Archaeological Footprint
- Bergmann’s Rule
- Biodiversity and Ecosystems
- Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism
- Dome Strength
- Exploring Objects
- Forces Design Challenge
- Giants from the Past
- Investigating the Qingming Scroll
- Locomotion Design Challenge
- Muscle Model
- Native Truths Teacher Reference Guide
- Outsiders Inside
- Plant Biomimicry
- Plate Motion Past and Present
- Rock Clocks Primer
- Senses Design Challenge
- Structure and Function
- Testing the Scholars
- Thermoregulation Design Challenge
- Today’s Dinosaurs
- What are Fossils
- Who were Dinosaurs?
Lincoln Park Zoo Lesson Plans, Topics Include:
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Shedd Aquarium Lesson Plans, Topics Include:
Dolphins
- Lesson 1: Dolphin Play
- Lesson 2: Dolphin Olympics
- Lesson 3: Dolphin Groups
- Lesson 4: Dolphin Movement
Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation
- Lesson 1: Shedd Habitat Designer
- Lesson 2: Otter Enrichment Design
- Lesson 3: Penguin Rescue and Rehabilitation
- Lesson 4: Coral Rescue and Rehabilitation
- Lesson 5: Citizen Science
Climate Change
- Activity 1: Communicating a Vision for Hope
- Activity 2: Visualizing Hope
- Activity 3: Bringing Hope Spots Home to the Great Lakes
Museum of Science and Industry Field Trip Guides, Topics Include:
- Patterns
- Measurement and Models
- Structure and Function
- What is Science?
- Science Storms
- YOU! The Experience
- U-505 Submarine
- Simple Machines
Ready to plan your school trip? Click the button below to get started!