When the idea to visit a cafe for lunch on our last day first arose we carefully considered the location of the lunch as we wanted it to be close enough that the girls could hold a sense of ownership over planning to get there and also far enough away that it would be an exciting journey.
We also wanted to provoke a sense of occasion within the girls, as well as responsibility and fun, and so we separated the girls into two teams.
One team was responsible for researching what food was available, developing a menu and tallying up what each child wanted to eat on the day. The girls also worked out the cost of the food and were each responsible for earning the money they needed to buy the food by doing chores at home. We heard many stories about the wonderful things the girls were coming up with to help out around the house.
The second team was responsible for determining how we would get to the cafe. This involved locating the cafe through use of the internet, reading maps, establishing the fastest route to get to the cafe and which means of transport we would use. In addition the girls also researched bus timetables, bus stop locations and the costs involved when using public transport. The girls also worked busily to design and create individual bus tickets for everyone in the class, teachers included.
The journey of planning the cafe trip seemed to really foster the notion of team work and collaboration, and also provoked rich engagement in literacy and mathematical experiences.
The girls seemed to really value the level of responsibility that they were given in planning for this trip, and the work that they put into the different elements of the planning process is evidence of this. There was a real sense of anticipation present in the classroom the week leading up to the trip to the cafe and the girls seemed to really delight in the experience on the day, which saw many of our families come together to enjoy a lovely meal and celebrate what we have done this term.
