Pre-K and K

SOCIAL STUDIES

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 UPK SS: 3, 5 LA: 1, 3, 4
Available Tuesday through Friday

Happy Holiday Traditions!

Available November 19–December 19, 2007
Sing a song! Make an ornament! Decorate a tree! This playful lesson helps young children learn about Christmas long ago while enjoying age-appropriate, hands-on activities among the museum’s collections.
1 hour UPK SS: 1 LA: 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 UPK 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 UPK 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 50cents per person.
1 hour UPK 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 UPK LA: 1, 2
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 UPK 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. Experiences are adjusted for grade level.

Awesome Adventures

Students become the characters in their own adventure skits. Using the interactives in the Adventure Island section 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!
11/2 hours LA: 1, 4 Arts: 1
Kindergarten Only
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.
11/2 hours LA: 1, 4
Kindergarten Only
Available Monday and Tuesday

That’s Nonsense!

Students play with language by creating jokes, jingles, and jigs inspired by the nonsense of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle’s house. They showcase their creative humor at the “That’s Nonsense Talent Show” to close the lesson in Reading Adventureland’s fun-filled Nonsense section.
11/2 hours LA: 1, 4
Kindergarten Only
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.
11/2 hours LA: 1, 4
Kindergarten Only
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.
11/2 hours LA: 1, 4 MST 4, 7
Kindergarten Only
Available Monday and Tuesday

 

MATH AND SCIENCE

NEW! Bob the Builder™ Expedition

Available Octover 1, 2007 through January 4, 2008
Free play in the delightful Bob the Builder™—Project: Build It exhibit is the essence of this fun expedition. To warm up before we begin to explore, we will come together and form the Construction Site Band. The expedition will end with an encore of rhythms and sounds from the exhibit.
1 hour UPK MST: 3 Arts: 1
Available Tuesday through Friday

A Time Line of Toys

What toys did people enjoy years ago? What toys are popular today? Students play with new and old-time toys in the National Toy Hall of Fame® exhibit and then create a time line of toys showing past, present, and future. Working in small groups, students define the attributes of a toy from long ago, compare it to a similar toy of the present, and then invent a toy of the future.
1 hour UPK MST: 1
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 (9:00, 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. only)

HEALTH

REVISED! Healthy Beginnings

Students use dramatic play, movement, and pre-math skills to determine what foods keep us healthy and strong. Dressing in the colors of the symbols from the USDA’s “MyPyramid for Kids” food and exercise guide, students discover what each symbol tells us about healthy eating. After shopping in Super Kids Market, students create healthy and balanced snacks by playing an interactive food group game.

1 hour UPK Health: 1 MST: 1

Available Tuesday through Friday