School

and Library

Programs

2014

PO Box 38 186 Townshend Road Grafton, VT 05146 (802) 843-2111

www.nature-museum.org

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Nature in the Schools

The Nature Museum at Grafton works collaboratively with teachers to design programs that connect directly to your grade level, your curriculum, Vermont or New Hampshire’s Grade Level Expectations, and The Next Generation Science Standards. Our mission is connecting people to nature. Our goal is to support teachers’ science and environmental education needs. We help you to bring nature into your classroom and to get your students out into nature, making connections and sparking interests that can last a lifetime. Programs at The Nature Museum include free Museum admission. You can extend your field trip at no additional cost by exploring our exhibits, having a picnic lunch, or hiking the Village Park trails. To see how each program aligns with Vermont and New Hampshire learning standards, view our Program Standards Chart. Our program options include: A series of two to seven sessions at your school or at the

Museum. For grades 1-6. You choose how many sessions you want.

A single program at your school or at the Museum. Single-

session programs are from 30 to 90 minutes. For preschool through grade 6.

Personalized programming. We will work with you to design a

program that fits your curriculum, your needs, and your budget.

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Multi-Session Programs Multi-session programs can be held at your school or at The Nature Museum. All of these programs are based on extensive outdoor exploration and hands-on activities. Each series gives students and teachers a chance to delve into a subject deeply. Students have time to process new material and skills, and teachers have the opportunity to evaluate learning. These programs can be tailored to accommodate students in grades 1 through 6. Choose two or more sessions. Habitat Happenings 2-4 sessions, 1½ hours each, plus a one-hour meeting with the teacher. Session topics: Fields, Forests, Ponds, and Rivers. What’s the difference between an ecosystem, a habitat, and a natural community? Students will get out into the field to compare several natural communities and investigate the animals that call each community their habitat. This program is designed to foster an understanding of the interrelationships among ecosystems. Aqua Adventures 2-3 sessions, 2 hours each, plus a one-hour meeting with the teacher. Session topics: Ponds, Rivers, and Vernal Pools. Water is essential to all life on earth. Students will get their boots wet in different bodies of water and get a better understanding of the animals that live there, the quality of the water, and the body of water’s connections to the greater watershed. Winter Wonderland 2-6 sessions, 1½ hours each, plus a one-hour meeting with the teacher. Session topics: Animal Tracking, Tree Identification, Animal Adaptations to Winter, Weather, Snowflake Types and Formation, and Snowshoe Exploration. Most of our learning will take place outdoors on snowshoes. (The Nature Museum can supply snowshoes to schools.) Creature Capers 2-7 sessions, 1 hour each, plus a one-hour meeting with the teacher. Session topics: Bats, Owls, Beavers, Turkeys, Reptiles, Amphibians, and Songbirds Each session will investigate a different New England animal or group of animals. We will visit each animal’s natural community and explore the adaptations each has made to help it survive life in the Northeast.

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Single-Session Programs These experiential one-time programs can be held at your school or at The Nature Museum. Our single-session programs are appropriate for students in grades K through 6. All programs except the astronomy program can be adapted for preschool students and can be shortened by 30 minutes for that age group as needed. Amphibians 1-hour indoor program. Offered in spring and summer. Bringing in live specimens of frogs and salamanders, we will discuss what makes an animal an amphibian, their distinctive life cycles, the species that we have in New England, and the threats to their survival. Animals in Winter 1-hour indoor program. Discover how different animals survive throughout our long New England winters. We’ll explore how animals are adapted to deal with the cold and snow and how they obtain food, water, and shelter in the winter. Through interactive games, slides, and observations of the Museum’s natural history collection, we will delve deeply into animals’ lives in the snow. Bats 1-hour indoor program. Behind the mystery and misunderstanding which surround them, bats are amazing and beneficial animals. Slides, mounted bats, a puppet show, and an activity about hibernation and migration will demonstrate how bats from around the world and in our own backyards have adapted to their environments. We’ll also examine threats to bats’ survival and their effects on the ecosystem. Beavers 1-hour indoor program, or 1½-hour program with outdoor exploration. Beavers are familiar animals to many people—but be prepared to learn some amazing facts about these crafty engineers. A beaver mount and hands-on materials illustrate how beavers are adapted to their aquatic environment and how their ponds serve as centers for wildlife activity and habitat creation. Teachers can select a puppet show for younger children or an interactive demonstration of beavers’ physical adaptations for older children.

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Dinosaurs 1-hour indoor program. The world of dinosaurs comes to life in this highly interactive program. Students travel through activity stations featuring tracks, bones, puzzles, and a sorting activity. With a puppet show, fossils, and whole-group activities, this program is sure to delight budding paleontologists. Insect Investigations 1-hour indoor program, or 1½-hour program with outdoor exploration. Activity stations allow students to see with insect eyes, create their own insects, view 3-D images of magnified insects, do a sorting activity to learn about different orders of insects, and examine arthropod specimens. The 1½-hour program includes an outdoor expedition to catch insects with sweep nets. Our Changing Moon 1-hour indoor program. This program introduces basic lunar terms and concepts. Students will experience the moon’s phases through hands-on modeling activities. Includes a take-home moon phase worksheet and a plan for a longer-term moon journaling project. Owls 1-hour indoor program. These silent flyers of the night are fascinating to children. Explore the world of these nocturnal birds and learn about their adaptations through slides, mounts, owl wings, and an owl skull. Listen to their varying calls, feel their amazingly soft feathers, and use a hand lens to discover their feathers’ unique adaptations for silent flight. Wonderful Wetlands 1½-Hour outdoor program. Offered in spring, summer, and fall. Wetlands are fascinating places, but do you know the difference between a swamp, a bog, and a vernal pool? We will learn about the different types of wetlands and their importance to our ecosystem. We will explore the life in and around a wetland firsthand, from the bottom-dwelling dragonfly nymph to the birds flying above. Using nets and buckets, we will muck around a wetland’s edge, discovering the life there.

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Our Environmental Educators Director of Education Beth Roy holds a Master’s degree in environmental science. She received her New Hampshire teacher certification and taught high school biology and chemistry before beginning a career in museum-based science education. She spent seven years at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center and four years at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) before coming to The Nature Museum in 2011.

Beth was part of a group of educators who were asked by the state of Vermont to provide feedback on the Next Generation Science Standards before they were implemented. Beth loves introducing children to nature, and she is dedicated to giving educators the knowledge and confidence to get outdoors with their students. When she is not at the Museum, she enjoys searching the woods around her home for signs of visiting wildlife with her husband, also a naturalist educator, and their two young children. Beth provides our multi-session programs as well as much of our personalized programming.

Environmental Educator Lynn Morgan holds a Master’s degree in environmental education. She has taught in the classroom at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. She has worked with the Museum in volunteer and staff roles since 1998. Lynn possesses a wealth of knowledge about local plants, animals, and natural history.

She is happiest when she is outdoors, especially when she can share that exploration time with others. Lynn teaches our single-session school and library programs as well as our preschool programs.

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Contact Us For more information or to reserve a program: (802) 843-2111 beth@nature-museum.org www.nature-museum.org

Group Size Preschool programs are designed for groups of 15 children or fewer. Elementary and middle school programs are designed for groups of 25 students or fewer. Special arrangements may be made for some programs. Costs All programs at the Museum include free admission to the exhibits before or after your program. There is an additional mileage charge of $0.75 per mile round-trip for programs at your location. Receive a 5% discount if you schedule more than one program at your location in a day. If cost is a barrier for your school, please contact us about funding assistance options. 1/2-hour Program $50 1-Hour Program $90 1 1/2-Hour Program $130 2-Hour Program $160 Personalized Programming We will work collaboratively with you to design a series of thematic programs that connect directly to your curriculum. We will gladly meet with teachers for one hour free of charge so that we can better understand the needs of your school and students before we start planning your programming.

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Spend the day in Grafton!

The Nature Museum offers two floors of interactive exhibits and dioramas on the region’s plants, animals, and geology. Visit our wildlife garden or hike on the extensive trails in the Village Park behind the Museum. We offer outdoor picnic tables on site, and with pre-arrangement, groups can eat picnic-style in our program room on rainy days. In our gift shop, we offer a wide range of natural history items for adults and children. For group visits, please specify if you would like the shop open or closed. The Museum is equipped with a ramp leading into our program room. First-floor exhibits are wheelchair accessible. The stairs leading to the second floor exhibits are not wheelchair accessible. While you’re in Grafton, you can also: Ski, mountain bike, or hike on many miles of trails at Grafton

Ponds Outdoor Center. Visit with a working blacksmith.

Enjoy a program or museum visit at the Grafton History Museum.

Visit the Vermont Museum of Mining and Minerals. Open June - October.

Check out the sheep and an exhibit about the history of Vermont’s sheep farming at the Windham Foundation’s sheep barn, across the street from the Museum.. Open year-round.

For more ideas on what to do in Grafton,

visit www.graftonvermont.org.

The Nature Museum at Grafton

186 Townshend Road

PO Box 38

Grafton, VT 05146

(802) 843-2111

www.nature-museum.org