The Explorers Museum

Have been waiting to get the okay from some parents before I posted these pictures. Enjoy!


Back at the beginning of winter term, Year 3 students were assigned an explorer to research for six weeks (from lists they submitted with their top three choices). They pored over books and the internet to learn the details of their explorers' lives and journeys. They turned in twice-weekly assignments on topics such as the explorer's childhood, preparation for his/her journey, the journey, the discovery, later life and/or death, and other interesting facts. They gathered materials and created costumes (with help from a lot of parents).

Finally, the students hosted an Explorers Museum and invited their parents and the Riverside community to stop by for a visit.

 

Ben Seeley IS John Glenn.

They dressed the parts, lined up patiently, and read their speeches to curious museum-goers (not easy for all of them -- a number of students do not speak English at home).

The explorer clusters were random, if Ben's group is any indication. Here we have Col. John Glenn, Sámuel Teleki, Amelia Earhart, and Annie Taylor.

Many other explorers showed up, including Hernán Cortés, Sally Ride, John Hanning Speke, and David Livingstone.

Sacajawea

Henry Hudson. He wore crocs, who knew? At least he didn't have to deal with that pesky escalator issue.

Roald Amundsen mushed in from the Northwest Passage.

At the beginning there was a swarm of parents, the principal, and other Riverside folks straining to hear individual explorers above the din. But that crowd thinned out, and some of the lower year classes came to visit the museum. "Col. Glenn" was a big hit among the young males of Years 1 and 2.

I thought this museum idea was ingenious. The explorers had numerous opportunities to recite their speeches, giving them a chance to hone presentation skills without the pressure of doing it just once in front of a huge audience. (And do I even need to note that we parents didn't have to sit through 75 minutes of explorer speeches? No, we got to mingle around and hear the speeches, take a moment for refreshments, chat with other parents, flip through the explorer reports that were also on hand. Genius, I tell you.)

Garrett's class (also Year 1) didn't do the field trip, so I extracted him to come hear Ben's spiel.

All the students did a fantastic job and enjoyed themselves, too. But I think they were ready to be done with it by the end of the afternoon. Here are some smiles of relief. How cute are these kids?

Very cute. Excellent job, Ben and friends!