Talk, laugh, listen, write, and play with English Language Arts (ELA) skills while exploring museum exhibits for inspiration. Mini-lessons facilitated by museum educators throughout the exhibits focus on the following 6+1 Traits of Writing: Sentence Fluency, Ideas, Word Choice, and Voice. Students receive personalized ELA skills handbooks to take notes and bring back to school.
Themed visits give students a chance to experience the museum in new ways. Activities begin at 9:45 a.m. and end at 2 p.m., but classes may arrive and depart at anytime during that period.
Before Your Visit
- Divide students into groups of 5 or fewer and assign each group a chaperon.
- Discuss field trip expectations and lunch plans with chaperons and students.
- Role-play museum etiquette with students.
- Make sure all students bring a pencil and notebook to the visit. Plan to have a chaperon bring a bag that can accommodate students' pencils and notebooks so items can be contained while students play.
During Your Theme Day Experience
- Museum educators will greet you with activity guides and maps.
- Exciting, theme-related activity stations will be staffed by museum educators.
- Students and chaperons will enjoy free exploration time throughout the museum. Students and chaperons must stay together throughout the visit.
Classroom Activities to Enhance Your Theme Day Experience
- Familiarize students with the 6+1 Traits of Writing.
- Before your visit, ask students to quickly draw a picture of The Strong. Drawings can be done from memory or imagination, depending on whether students have ever visited the museum. After the visit, ask students to go back to their drawings and add details, based on what they saw and did during the ELA Theme Day. Create a class list of the details students added. Use the drawings as inspiration for future writing.