During the week, 826LA invites public school teachers to bring their students to our writing labs for a morning of creativity, collaboration, and writing. Our field trips—whether it's Storytelling & Bookmaking, Choose Your Own Adventure, Memoir, or Poetry Writing—are designed to support your curriculum while providing a unique space for students to unleash their imagination and strengthen their writing skills. In just a few hours, students brainstorm, write, edit, and leave with a tangible product, such as a bound book or a polished essay, along with newfound confidence in their storytelling abilities. For classrooms unable to visit our labs, we offer traveling field trips, bringing the 826LA experience directly to your school.
Sign Up for an 826LA Field Trip Today and Give Your Students a Creative, Hands-On Experience They'll Never Forget!
Field Trips Offered
Storytelling and Book Making
Grades 1-4
1
In our most popular Field Trip, students must bring forth their best writing for Professor Barnacle, our unseen, time-traveling publisher who is figuratively (and sometimes literally) stuck in the past. Students collaborate with trained volunteers and each other to produce a story with all-new characters, setting, and plot, all the way up to a cliffhanger—at which point each student finishes the story with their own original ending. Should everyone write up to their potential, and convince Professor Barnacle once and for all that new stories are just as powerful as tales of old, the Professor will approve their stories for publication, and each student will take home their own bound and illustrated book.
Well-Wishing and Poetry
Grades 3-5
2
Get ready to snap your fingers and nod your heads, because every student will leave a certified poet! With our volunteers, students work together to create a class poem, a group poem, and finally their own individual poem. Together, we explore different poetic techniques like alliteration and personification, and types of poetry such as list poems and odes. At the end of the field trip, each student will leave as a published poet, taking home their own poetry collection.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Grades 5-8
3
It’s an action-packed thriller! With the support of our volunteers, students begin writing a story as a group, but stop when the second-person protagonist has a decision to make. At that point, the group splits into two to write each branch of the story. As more decisions present themselves and storylines continue to branch, the groups continue to split into smaller groups. Each student ends the adventure by finishing the unresolved story branches with their own endings. By the end of the field trip, students will have written an 11-page adventure with six different endings, and every student will take home their own version of the adventure.
Memoir
Grades 9-12
4
It’s never too early to start your memoir! During this Field Trip, students explore storytelling through a nonfiction lens. They reflect on their lives and unpack important moments, events, and memories that have shaped their identities. With the help of volunteers and focused small group work, students walk away from this Field Trip with a collective class memoir, a map of their memories, and the beginnings of their own personal narratives. This Field Trip can be used as a tool for students as they prepare to write their personal narratives for college application essays, whether that be this year, next year, or several years into the future.
Meet the Team
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Pedro Estrada
Echo Park Programs and Operations Manager
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Gabriela Romero
Field Trips and Operations Coordinator
Join 826LA’s Field Trips and Help Bring Students’ Stories to Life!
As a volunteer, you can play the role of the ruthless editor Professor Barnacle, guide students as an editor, or bring their ideas to life as an illustrator. It’s a fun, collaborative way to support young writers on their creative journey. Sign up today and make a difference, one story at a time!