Indiana Academic Standard correlation to a museum school visit 2nd Grade Language Arts 2.2.2 State the purpose for reading.           Most of the reading students will do at The Children's Museum relates to gaining information about the exhibits. Identify what types of things students will be reading while they are in The Children's Museum (signs, labels, maps, handouts). What would they read to find out how mummies are made or how old the mastodon is? Talk with students about what they want to discover at the museum. 2.2.3 Use knowledge of the author's purpose(s) to comprehend informational text.           Titles and exhibit labels were written to communicate exhibit messages and information about artifacts. For instance, before one enters the special exhibits located on Level 2 Welcome Center, look for signs showing the main title and ideas to be explored inside. What do they expect to find inside? How do they know? 2.2.4 Ask and respond to questions to aid comprehension about important elements of informational text.           There are many people who work here that can give students additional information about exhibits. Encourage students to ask questions if they are confused or want more information. Discuss sources of information: teachers, chaperones, museum staff, or other students.           In The Children's Museum students will often read labels with inquiry-based questions. Help the students read them and try to answer them. 2.2.5 Restate facts and details in the text to clarify and organize ideas.           Read labels together. Tell what you just read. When you leave a gallery, ask students to think about what they have just seen and read. Have them discuss what they have learned among themselves or with teachers and chaperones. See if anyone remembers something that other members of the group did not! 2.7.1 Determine the purpose or purposes of listening (such as to obtain information, to solve problems, or to enjoy.)           Explain that at The Children's Museum there are many things to listen to and many reasons to listen. For instance, listen to teachers and museum staff to know where things are. Find out information about the exhibits. Or listen to interesting stories and facts. Here are some things to listen for while you are at the museum:           Short weekday presentations are hosted by museum staff throughout the building daily. Check your program guide for times and dates and register if necessary.           Listen to different kinds of music from around the world in Passport to the World. Encourage students to compare how music in Africa is different from music in Asia, or the Americas, or Europe. What kind of music do students like best?           Another place for listening is at Story Avenue. The speakers are young and old. They tell different types of stories. Discuss how their ages might affect the stories they tell. Some stories are funny, however many teach lessons. Ask students if they can tell what is the moral of each story. 2.7.1 Ask for clarification and explanation of stories and ideas.           Explain that students will learn lots of new things at the museum by listening, reading, and observing. Make sure they know to always ask for more information or to have it explained again if something is unclear. 2.7.3 Paraphrase (restate in own words) information that has been shared orally by others.           Encourage students to repeat new words to help them learn. When students listen to a presentation, such as in ScienceWorks or in Passport to the World, have them explain in their own words what they have learned to each other. 2.7.7 Tell experiences in a logical order.           After visiting a gallery or exhibit stop and ask, "Can someone tell me what they said/did inside the exhibit?" Remind students to use words like "first," "next," "last." Social Studies 2.1.1 Identify changes that have occurred in the local and/or regional community.           Near the Rueben Wells engine on Lower Level, observe the town of Madison, Indiana as it looked in the nineteenth century. Ask students to identify in what ways the town looks different than a town looks today. Have the students list changes that reflect how Madison might look today (cars, stoplights, electric lights, new buildings, bigger buildings). 2.3.4 Identify places that are nearby or related to the local community.           Help students find the following: The carousel on Level 4 is from the Broad Ripple Park. The stories told in Story Avenue were collected from African-American residents of Indianapolis. The racecar on Level 3 relates to a major event in Indianapolis life-what event? What other objects or stories can students find from Indianapolis or Indiana? Ask students what they have learned about the city and state from the objects and stories at the museum. 2.4.2 Identify community workers who provide goods and services for the rest of the community, and explain how their jobs benefit people in the community.           People do many jobs at The Children's Museum. What jobs can students see (parking lot attendants, restaurant and gift shop workers, infoZone librarians, security personnel, people who explain exhibits and help with activities)? Explain that there are also many people not seen working behind the scenes, who work to create the exhibits or help keep the museum and its grounds clean. Discuss how these jobs benefit students and families when they come to visit The Children's Museum. How do the workers benefit Indianapolis and the state of Indiana? 2.4.6 Define specialization and identify specialized jobs in the school and community.           Discuss specialization ahead of time. Specialization means having extra learning that enables a person to do a specific job. In The Children's Museum, many types of jobs require specialization. For instance, the security personnel have special training to find lost children, to unlock locked cars, and help people in an emergency.           Another specialized job in the museum that students can see is the people who run special activities in the exhibits. For instance, in ScienceWorks, the workers have to learn man scientific principles help boats float so they can explain them to visitors! The Children's Museum designs, builds and repairs all the exhibits. This requires many people doing very specialized jobs! 2.5.2 Explain how individuals are members of many different groups, and compare and contrast the expectations of behavior in different groups.           Visit Passport to the World. You will see toys and costumes from all over the world. In one area, you will see how body language is different in various parts of the world. Ask students to find out how Eskimos say "yes" or "no" and how people in Japan greet each other. Then discuss in what ways this is different from how people in America behave? Ask if there are any similarities? 2.5.2 Compare the ways people learn traditions in different cultures.           Visit the Tap-tap truck in Passport to the World and see, hear, and even smell celebrations from around the globe! Encourage students to compare the various celebrations, identifying similarities between cultures and traditions, and differences. Dioramas near the truck show celebrations around the world, such as the Kamakura (Snow Caves) in Japan, or traditional Easter festivities in Eastern Europe. Have students compare what they see in the dioramas or Tap-Tap truck with similar festivals they have celebrated. Have them identify new festivals that are different from what they know. Science 2.1.1 Manipulate an object to gain additional information about it.           In ScienceWorks there are many interactive activities that can help students understand scientific principles. Encourage students to touch or pick up objects, observe them, and try to understand how they work. 2.1.2 Use tools, such as thermometers, magnifiers, rulers, or balances, to gain more information about objects.           Have students brainstorm what tools like thermometers, magnifiers, rulers, or balances tell us about an object (temperature, weight, size, small details like texture or how something is made)? Have them find these objects in ScienceWorks or the What If? Gallery and use them to measure, weigh, or observe other objects. Be sure to stop by the Water Clock and remind students that it measures time-watch the 12:45 presentation to find out how it works! 2.1.6 Use tools to investigate, observe, measure, design, and build things.           In ScienceWorks students can build an arch with blocks, or move rocks with a crane or a shovel. Ask them to think about how the tools help them with their tasks. Also, how would it be more difficult if they did not have these tools? 2.2.4 Assemble, describe, take apart, and/or reassemble constructions using such things as interlocking blocks and erector sets. Sometimes pictures or words may be used as a reference.           In ScienceWorks, there are many opportunities to build with blocks. Have students observe how some pieces (like bricks) sit on top of each other and some have specialized parts that fit together (similar to Tinker Toys). Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. Do some materials make stronger structures? Are some more difficult to put together? 2.3.7 Investigate and observe that the way to change how something is moving is to give it a push or a pull.           Have students observe how you move things along a conveyor belt or on a rope-and-pulley system in ScienceWorks-by pulling the ropes or pushing the platform! Point out that when they build with blocks, it doesn't take much of a push for them to fall down. Have them experiment with different types of pushes on a boat at the Dock Shop. Does it move faster, slower, or in a different direction? 2.4.1 Observe and identify different external features of plants and animals and describe how these features help them live in different environments.           Visit the pond in Science Works and observe the turtles. Have students discuss what features they have to help them in their environment. For instance, their feet are slightly webbed, which help them swim. Their feet also have small claws to help them climb out of the water and to catch food. How do turtles use their shells? Sometimes the turtles are hard to see-does their coloring help them? How?           Be sure to observe the other animal specimens at Science Works, like the beaver, and discuss how it can use its body to help it in the wild.           Visit the coral reef in the What If? Gallery. What plants and animals can students identify? Discuss what makes them different from plants and animals that are above ground and not under water. For instance, fish do not have feet, they have fins! 2.4.2 Observe that and describe how animals may use plants, or even other animals, for shelter and nesting.           In ScienceWorks help students find the underground environment where a fox might live. Explain that it has created a den and surrounded itself with types of plants to make itself warm, dry, comfortable, and to hide if necessary. Ask students if they can tell what kinds of plants the fox has used. Encourage them to find other plants or animals in Science Works using plants or other animals as shelter or for nesting. 2.4.3 Observe and explain that plants and animals both need to take in water, animals need to take in food, and plants need light.           In ScienceWorks, observe the hydroponic garden. Have students identify the features of the exhibit that help the plants grow-lights, water, etc. Does it surprise them that they don't need dirt?

3000 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46208-4716 · 317-334-3322
Official Partners: