olivia

Blog Post #5

Back to Field Trips!

These past few weeks we have started back up the field trips to the Virginia Transportation Museum.  Every Kindergarten class in Roanoke City is coming for their field trips.  Much like the 4^th grade field trips, the students rotate through five stations learning about transportation in Virginia.  However, the activities are very different in each rotation.  For example, instead of comparing car tires to years, the kindergartners are learning what a car and tire are by using rhyming words.  Recently, I was assigned the rotation “Past and Perfect.” This activity ties into their SOL of learning to differentiate objects from the past and present.  While the concept might be easy, teaching squirmy and giggly five years old is no easy task! Items for comparison include VHS, DVD, wheel, wagon wheel, milk jug, and glass milk bottles.  I have enjoyed seeing how different age groups interact with history at museums.  Moreover, I have written the instructions for the “Past Perfect” activity.  Many of the rotations/ activities done at the museum have written directions. Yet, many of the Kindergarten activities do not have written instructions.  I really had fun showing of my ability to write instructions on an activity that I teach so that other volunteers can do the same. As I begin to wrap up my time at the museum, I have nothing but respect for museum volunteers and staff!

Also, here a picture of my favorite item from the museum! It is the Jupiter Rocket sent into space in 1959 with two primates called Able and Baker.  It proved that living humans could return to Earth safely!

The start of my internship has been fantastic.  I was placed at the Museum of Transportation under the education coordinator Courtney Plaster.  So far, I have worked mostly with field trips and education activities.  To start off my internship, I attended the 4th grade field trip training on January 6th.  On that day, I was introduced to the volunteers and learned how to monitor the different stations.  Each station pertains to the Virginia SOLs and can help the students understand concepts in a tactile manner.  Later that day instead of leaving, I stayed in the museum and explored.  I found it imperative that I understand the facts in each exhibit.   Then, last week I began to shadow the 4th grade field trips on Thursday and Friday.  The field trip on Friday went wonderfully.  I helped/shadowed in the “Safety Car” where students learn about the dangers of trains and the tracks they run on.

Then, on Friday, there was not a group of students so I was asked to look at the museum labels in the automobile gallery.  Courtney told me that I would be working in the auto gallery station with the fourth graders and that I should be knowledgeable about each car. Thus, I started taking notes from each sign.  Yet while taking notes, I found errors in spelling on the museum labels and made the museum staff aware.  That afternoon, I started working on an educator’s pamphlet that needed serious updates with new SOL and picture modifications. Therefore, today I worked the auto gallery with another volunteer without any hiccups. Surprisingly the students have been attentive and engaged!  Everything I have done at the museum has been fun and interesting.  Next week, I will continue to help with field trips and begin analyzing the exhibits from a historian’s perspective.

*Below are some of the pictures I have taken around the museum for the new pamphlet to be mailed out for the Roanoke Valley educators.