Home Study 2022/23

Grades: K-3 • Length: 1.5 hours
OFFERED: 09/19/2022, 10am - 11:30am
Monarchs are the only butterflies to migrate north and south each year, yet no single insect completes the round-trip journey.  Students explore the conservation of this butterfly, while learning about its habitat, life cycle and migration, including tagging and releasing a monarch. BIG IDEAS: Interdependence; Cycles; and Structure & Function. NGSS

Grades: K-3 • Length: 1 hour
OFFERED: 9/19/22, 1pm - 2pm
In our gardens, forests, fields and homes, spiders can be found, quietly focused on their important ecological role - capturing and eating insects. Students observe live spiders and build model spiders from their observations, discover the process of spiders capturing prey in a web, and go on a guided hunt to observe spiders, webs and record observations. We also examine the life cycle of these terrestrial predators. BIG IDEAS: Interdependence; Cycles; and Structure and Function. NGSS

Grades: K-1 & 2-3 Length: 2 hours 
OFFERED: 10/03/2022, 10:00am - 12:00pm 
The crisp days of fall are time for cider making. Using apples we have picked from Hildene’s trees, students wash and press the fruit into sweet cider. After it has been pasteurized, students sample the delicious juice. To appreciate the development of apple fruit, students explore the essential role of pollinators and dissect a simple flower to discover how its parts contribute to the process of pollination. Through investigation and pantomime, the life cycle of the apple tree, the function of its parts and how it changes through the seasons will also be examined. BIG IDEAS: Structure and Function; Interdependence; and Cycles. NGSS

Grades: K-2 & 3-4 • Length: 1.5 hours
OFFERED: 10/3/2022, 1:00 - 2:30pm
Who’s who in the hive? How is honey made and how are flowers pollinated? Students will explore the world of honey bees with investigation, pantomime, and inspection of the bees in our observation hive. They also examine the bee’s design, life cycle, social structure and important role as a pollinator. BIG IDEAS: Interdependence; Cycles; and Structure & Function. NGSS

Grades: 1-2 & 3-4 • Length: 1.5 hours
OFFERED: 10/17/2022, 10am - 11:30am
How are animals, catapulting, and the forces of wind, water and gravity linked to seeds?  Students explore this and other questions during our investigations of seeds. Students examine how seeds are formed, identify the parts of a seed that grow into a new plant, and inspect selected seed bearing structures to look for evidence of how the seeds travel. BIG IDEAS: Interdependence; Cycles; Reproduction; and Structure and Function. NGSS

Grades: K-1 & 2-4 • Length: 1.5 hours
OFFERED:
10/17/22, 1:00 - 2:30pm
10/31/22, 1:00 - 2:30pm
Students interact with the sheep at the dene animal barn while exploring their life cycle, anatomy, and behavior. In helping with chores, students gain an appreciation for the care that goes into these animals. The special characteristics of the sheep’s fiber is also investigated, and a fiber item is created by the students to take home. BIG IDEAS: Cycles; and Structure and Function. NGSS

Grades: K-2 & 3-4; Length: 1.5 hrs
OFFERED:
10/31/2022, 10am - 11:30am
11/7/2022, 10am - 11:30am
Unlike earlier times, the turkey we enjoy today isn’t a wild bird, but rather farm-raised. While tasty, the domestic turkey is not nearly as fascinating in behavior or development as its wild cousin. With interactive activities, students explore the history, habitat, life cycle and behavior of Vermont’s wild turkeys. BIG IDEAS: Interdependence; Cycles; and Change Over Time. NGSS

Grades 5-6 • Length: 1.5 hours
OFFERED: 11/7/22, 1pm - 2:30pm
An innovator at heart, President Lincoln revolutionized the use of the telegraph during the Civil War. He used this new communications tool to gather information and assert his leadership to the front. Prior to Lincoln, rapid exchanges between the Commander-in-Chief and the generals in the field didn’t occur. Students learn about the critical role of the telegraph in the Civil War, use telegraphs to send and receive messages that are combined to reveal one of Lincoln’s most important decisions and then view related artifacts in our exhibit, The American Ideal: Abraham Lincoln and the Second Inaugural. BIG IDEAS: Historical Connections; Forces of Unity and Disunity and Nature of Conflict. STANDARDS

Grades: 5-12 • Length: 1 1/2 hours
OFFERED NOVEMBER - APRIL 2022/2023
Students take a tour of Hildene, built by presidential son Robert Lincoln and his wife Mary in 1905, to learn about the family and their lives at the turn of the century. Students also visit the exhibit The American Ideal: Abraham Lincoln and the Second Inaugural, which includes one of Lincoln’s stovepipe hats of which there are only three in existence. 

Robert Lincoln, a captain of industry, served as president of the Pullman Company from 1901 to 1911. Students learn about his Pullman career through a visit to our fully restored 1903 Pullman car, Sunbeam. The interpretive exhibit “Many Voices” focuses on the Pullman Company that built the cars; the privileged families and executives who travelled in them, and the Pullman porters who worked in them. The fourth voice is of those who visit the car and the conclusions they draw from the experience. BIG IDEA Historical Connections; Forces of Unity and Disunity & Nature of Conflict. STANDARDS

Grades: 6-8 • Length: 1.5 hours
OFFERED NOV - APRIL 2022/2023
During this live virtual program, students discover the critical role that Pullman porters played in giving rise to America’s Black middle class, the formation of the black labor movement, and the momentum for the civil rights movement. This slice of history spans 100 years, beginning with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Students engage in activities relating to what it was like to travel and work on a Pullman car and actively participate in discussion about the porters’ enduring fight for social change and justice in America. BIG IDEAS: Historical Connections; Human Rights; Impact of Economic Systems; and Nature of Conflict. STANDARDS