Grades 1 and 2

SOCIAL STUDIES

Christmas Now and Then

Available November 19–December 19, 2007
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

Elmo’s Neighborhood

Who are the people and what are the things in your neighborhood? Students visit Sesame Street to discover what a neighborhood is and how neighborhoods are interdependent as they identify types of people, places, and things that make up a neighborhood. They also see how they are alike or different from other people and things in the neighborhood.
1 hour SS: 3, 5 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 50 cents per person.
1 hour SS: 1 LA: 1, 2, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

LANGUAGE ARTS

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

Ship Ahoy! Communicating and Language Arts

How do people communicate in different ways? Visit Kid to Kid and “meet” Laura Jernegan, a real six-year-old girl who traveled with her captain father on a 19th-century whaling ship. Learn how storytelling, journaling, music, and art were used to communicate at sea. In this highly participatory lesson, students become part of a story based on Laura’s journal.
1 hour LA: 1, 2, 4 SS: 1 Arts: 3
Available Tuesday through Friday

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

READING ADVENTURELAND EXPERIENCES

The Reading Adventureland exhibit is made up of five distinct literary settings: Mystery, Adventure, Fairy Tales, Nonsense, and Fantasy. Each experience takes place in one of these five settings and is based on fundamental literary concepts. Guided play in other genres is included to deepen understanding.

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

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

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

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

 

MATH AND SCIENCE

New Location! 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 MST: 4 LA: 1
Available Tuesday through Friday (9:00 and 10:00 a.m. only)

Mumford’s Magic Money

Students learn about counting and using money as they pretend to shop and work on Sesame Street. This is a fun way for students to apply basic math concepts about dollar denominations, adding, and subtracting. Watch Mumford’s magical wallets disappear at the close of the lesson!
1 hour MST: 3 SS: 4 LA: 1
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.
11/2 hours MST: 4 LA: 1, 3, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

HEALTH

Health Nuts

Students cruise the supermarket aisles in Super Kids Market to learn about making healthy food choices and what it takes to give a body “go-power”! Additional activities show how food gets to the table and the many people responsible for bringing food to us throughout our history.
1 hour Health: 1 SS: 1, 4 LA: 1, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday