This book is a cute addition to the classic Amelia Bedelia series. This colorful picture book takes readers along Amelia Bedelia's class field trip to a local farm. Readers see how silly Amelia Bedelia learns about life on a farm and about differnet animals. This book would be good to read to students before a field trip and introduce class field trip expectations. This text could also be used to introduce students to predicting what will happen in text. ( )

age: 5
Summary: Amelia Bedelia went to farm in order to learn about farm life. She engaged in group activities in prosocial behavior. Finally, she can learn about farm life.
*Children can engage in prosocial behavior and can engage competently in group activities.
Source: Pierce library

Very cute book about a little girl who doesn't quit understand words, and certain sayings "green thumb" Amelia learns through all her experiences at the farm.
ages 5 and up
Pierce CC ( )

In my opinion, “Amelia Bedelia’s First Field Trip” is a good book because it teaches the young reader that going on a field trip is fun, but it is also a learning adventure. The story starts with Amelia going to a farm for her first field trip, along with her teacher and classmates. The farmers, Mr. and Mrs. Dinkins, escort the class at the farm and talk about taking care of the farm, feeding and nurturing the animals, and picking and planting seeds that turn into food that we eat. One farm activity the students take part in is gathering the eggs from the hens in the barn. “Mr. Dinkins shows everyone how to gather eggs. Some of the eggs were still warm. They were white eggs and brown eggs and speckled eggs and eggs the color of cream.” I enjoyed the illustrations that Lynne Avril provided to help showcase the story. She uses bright colors in her illustrations, helping to make the story more vivid and uplifting. After exploring the farm and having lunch, Mrs. Dinkins shows Ameila the planting area of the farm and gives her seeds to plant pumpkins at Ameila’s house. “’Plant these, she said. Water them well and give them lots of sunlight. Then one day you’ll have pumpkins.’” As the story progresses, the audience is able to see the result of the growing process of the pumpkin seeds given to Ameila. Some of the things the children learn while visiting the farm are how to care for the farm animals, how to plant seeds, and what chores need to be done on the farm. The big idea of the story is that children should go on field trips to have fun and to learn by experiencing new adventures outside of the classroom environment. ( )

I enjoyed reading Amelia Bedelia’s First Field Trip because of the main character and the illustrations. Amelia Bedelia is the main character who is willing to learn about the farm, but takes things too literally. This makes the story funny and enjoyable to anyone who reads it. For example, Mr. Dinkins said his wife had a green thumb in the garden. Instantly Amelia Bedelia is interested and looked at Mrs. Dinkins. “She had never seen a green thumb before, and she wondered which hand it was on. What colors were her other fingers? Did Mrs. Dinkins have a pink pinky?” Throughout the book the illustrations go along with Amelia Bedelia taking things too literally, which makes them fun and engaging to look at. For example, when Mrs. Dinkins was explaining the eyes on a potato, corn growing in ears, and lettuce growing a head, the illustration shows Amelia Bedelia’s exact thoughts of what this could look like. The illustration shows a potato with eyes, corn with ears, and lettuce with a head. There is no central message to this story, but it can be a great story to read to children before their first field trip to get excited. The book could also be used to talk about the different meanings of groups of animals and other words that Amelia Bedelia got confused with, such as an ear of corn. ( )