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Grades 1 and 2

SOCIAL STUDIES

Christmas Now and Then

Available November 25–December 19, 2008
See how Christmas today is celebrated differently than it was a century ago. Using the museum’s collections, students learn how ideas about Santa Claus, Christmas decorations, and gift-giving have changed over the years. Children get to “shop” for gifts on an early 19th-century budget.
11/2 hours SS: 1 LA: 1, 3, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

Growing Up in 19th-Century America

How were values, traditions, and ideas transmitted to children at the turn of the 19th century? Using the museum’s collections, students role-play life and life at school during this period. Costumes, games, toys, artifacts, and photographs illustrate the cultural, social, and educational values of the time.
11/2 hours SS: 1, 2 LA: 1, 3, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

If Toys Could Talk About History

Toys provide an important way for children to learn about society. Students compare and contrast toys made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with those made today. They learn about the skills, values, and information gained through toys, as well as how gender roles influence the nature of play.
11/2 hours SS: 1 LA: 1, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy! Understanding Patriotism

Why do we salute the flag? What is a patriotic symbol? Using the museum’s collections, students explore the connection between images, objects, and the patriotic feelings they evoke. They learn through experience how feelings of patriotism are stirred through images, marching, and music. Students create a new patriotic symbol of their own for the 21st century.
11/2 hours SS: 1, 5 LA: 1, 2, 3, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

Kitchen Helpers in the 19th Century

What was life like before fast food, washing machines, and microwave ovens? Students visit One History Place and learn for themselves as they role-play household chores expected of children a long time ago, such as pumping water, tending the stove, and using an icebox.
1 hour SS: 1 LA: 1, 3, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

Playthings and Pastimes from Long Ago

What did children play with before the era of plastics, batteries, computers, and videos? Students visit One History Place to learn about early 20th-century America by role-playing the games and pastimes of this bygone era.
1 hour SS: 1 LA: 1, 3, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

Train Travel Changes the World!

Take a journey into the fascinating world of train travel in One History Place. Children experience trains, role-play the jobs of railroad workers, and learn how the introduction of railroad travel changed people’s lives. Add a real train ride on the Strong Express Train for an additional 75 cents per person.
1 hour SS: 1 LA: 1, 2, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

NEW! Where in the World Is Mr. Potato Head? Geography and Mapping

Available January 26–May 8, 2009 Students participate in four amazing adventures in the exciting Adventures of MR. POTATO HEAD® exhibit: a jungle safari, an archaeological dig, an undersea excursion, and an outer space odyssey. In small groups, students explore geographical areas through play. Using mapping and inquiry, they locate these geographical areas and compare and contrast them to real world maps. Mapping activities vary according to grade level.
1 hour SS: 3 MST: 1
Available Tuesday through Friday

LANGUAGE ARTS

Awesome Adventures

Students become the characters in their own adventure skits. Using the interactives in the Adventure section of Reading Adventureland and the formula for great adventure stories, students create an exciting skit and perform it on the bow of the good ship “Courageous”—a not-so-seaworthy vessel!
1 1/2 hours LA: 1, 4 Arts: 1
Available Monday and Tuesday

Ernie Sounds It Out!

Ernie has lost his letters! Children help Ernie find them by using environmental clues to point the way to letters hidden on Sesame Street. During their search, students practice letter identification and sound recognition. This lesson can be expanded to include construction of word families.
1 hour LA: 1, 2
Available Tuesday through Friday

Once Upon a Time…

Transform into a character from one of six stories in the dramatic Fairy Tale section in Reading Adventureland: Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Bears, Jack and the Beanstalk, Three Billy Goats Gruff, Three Little Pigs, or Cinderella. Students become the cast as they select a setting, retell, and reenact one of the above classic tales.
1 1/2hours LA: 1, 4
Available Monday and Tuesday

That’s Nonsense!

Students play with language in the Word Play Station or Ultimate Dream Machine of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s astonishing upside-down house. Their play leads them to create original jokes, jingles, tongue twisters, or riddles. These young comics showcase their creative humor at the “That’s Nonsense Talent Show” to close the lesson in Reading Adventureland’s fun-filled Nonsense section.
1 1/2 hours LA: 1, 4
Available Monday and Tuesday

Using Drama to Develop Language

Through role-play and fantasy in Kid to Kid, students build verbal and written language skills. Students act out different jobs at the kid-sized post office and create short improvisational scenes on the “Act Too” stage, guided by museum teachers and chaperons.
1 hour LA: 1, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

Who Dunnit?

A mystery at the Mystery Mansion needs to be solved and your students are the detectives we need! Through deductive reasoning, prediction, mapping skills, and collaboration, detectives use their clues to crack the code of “Who Dunnit?” in the captivating Mystery section of Reading Adventureland.
1 1/2hours LA: 1, 4 MST 4, 7
Available Monday and Tuesday

Wings of Fantasy

Inspired by the fantastical costumes in the Wizard’s Wardrobe, a magical wand, or an original potion created in the Alchemist’s Laboratory in the Fantasy section of Reading Adventureland, students begin to develop a fantasy character. The Wing Shop by Elvira Woodruff fuels creative imaginations as students decide on their character’s source of magical power, good deeds, and method of travel to unknown places.
1 1/2hours LA: 1, 4
Available Monday and Tuesday

MATH AND SCIENCE

NEW! Bear Bucks: Beginning Economics

The Berenstain Bears exhibit provides a bustling environment with Mama Bear’s Quilt Shop, Papa Bear’s Woodworking Shop, the Bear Family Restaurant, Farmer Ben’s Farm, and Dr. Bearson’s Dentist Office. Students play the part of business owners and consumers when they withdraw money from the bank and engage in role-play in the exhibit. This is a fun way for students to apply basic math skills about dollar denominations, adding, subtracting, and beginning multiplication.
1 hour            MST: 3            LA: 1, 3, 4
Kindergarten
Available Wednesday through Friday

NEW! Curious George Figures It Out

Available September 29–December 19, 2008
Curious George is at it again! How high can I go? How far can I jump? How many windows can I see on that apartment? Students are naturally drawn to math problems when they can work them out in the Curious George exhibit. Students apply math concepts of classification, estimation, measurement, graphing, and addition and subtraction, allowing them to play with math at their own level and ability. Students conclude the lesson by sharing with each other their strategies for solving Curious George’s math questions.
1 hour MST: 3
Kindergarten
Available Tuesday through Friday

My Smart Parts Are Working!

Brains think in many different ways. How do you like to use your brain? In TimeLab and DanceLab, each student learns how to turn his or her brain “on,” get it in gear, and use it to learn. Students learn how to talk about their strengths as learners.
1 1/2 hours MST: 4 LA: 1, 3, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

Very Hungry Butterflies

Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar serves as the springboard for this imaginative experience in the brand new Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden®. Children learn about life cycles as they transform themselves into butterflies through movement and music and then explore the garden to see what butterflies love to eat.
1 hour UPK MST: 4 LA: 1
Available Tuesday through Friday

HEALTH

Health Nuts

What foods do we need every day to be healthy? Meet Francine, a life-size puppet who can’t keep up with the kids at recess and falls asleep during school. What can she do to have more energy? Students take on the challenge of helping Francine to become healthy. Using the Kid’s Food Guide Pyramid, students will shop in Super Kids Market and have fun packing a healthy lunch for Francine. Together, Francine and her new friends learn a “Fit as a Fiddle” cheer to help them all remember what it takes to be healthy.
1 hour Health: 1 LA: 1 Arts: 1
Available Tuesday through Friday