The second to last week of camp is about Paleontology! I was still sticking with the younger kids this week. We watched a cute Planetarium show called Dinosaurs, a Story of Survival that had pretty good animation and storytelling. It was about a girl who goes back in time with a magic narrator to learn about how dinosaurs lived and got wiped out.

After the morning show, I assisted the teacher in cutting out dinosaur silhouettes for the kids to paste onto backgrounds that they painted. 

During lunchtime, I’ve been watching both of the older groups in the auditorium. The secret is to put on Phineas and Ferb and they stay quiet and focus on eating… for the most part. 

On Friday, a girl from the older class, in a moment of astounding wisdom, lodged one of the 7- to 9-year-old’s phone in the pretend cash register in the pizza area. It got stuck behind the drawer and the whole thing had to be taken a part to get the phone out. 

The last week of camp, (and my last week at MOAS,) is themed around art. Except for the older kids who have a Harry Potter theme which is honestly so freaking cool!! On Monday, I spent some time with the 7- to 9-year-olds. The teacher walked us through the museum and focused the kids’ attention on various artworks, specifically painted portraits. When we got back to the classroom after looking around, they grouped into pairs and drew their partner’s portrait. Letting the children observe artworks beforehand was a smart move in prefacing how they could go about drawing each other.  

The teacher also hung fishing line across the room (this man is crazy,) and had the kids create craft chandeliers with string and cardstock paper. It was very fun to watch, and the kids had a blast!! 

Overall, every single person who I have met at MOAS has been more than kind and welcoming. The teachers and staff members are highly qualified people who are dedicated to the institution. It truly has been a pleasure to observe and work alongside them all. 

I have transitioned from helping out with the older kids to the 5- and 6-year-old classroom. On Monday I shadowed the class for the day and assisted the teacher. The switch up from older children to kindergarten age kids was something else. The pace that they move at is a lot slower but somehow twice the amount of energy is present. They’re great kids; it was just quite a bit to take in at first. One activity we did was a collage where they decorated a paper robot and then pasted it together onto cardstock. 

At one point we also stepped outside to look at the fountain near the front and give the kids some sun. It is so pretty!! I think it might genuinely be my favorite spot at MOAS. There are plenty of tadpoles and snails in the fountain, and beautiful lotus flowers that will pop up at random.  

I came in an extra day on Thursday to watch over the class with another intern and volunteer since the teacher was out for a couple days. I improvised some activity ideas to go along with the week’s theme of science, and it went surprisingly well!! We did “fossil” imprints with air dry clay, mini lava lamps, and paper airplanes. For last minute ideas and my first time overseeing a class to this degree, I think I really knocked it out of the park. The kids had a great time, and I got genuine experience in how draining but rewarding managing a young class is. 

On Friday, my supervisor and I did a fun skittle activity to compare if food dye dissolves faster with hot or cold water.  

We also took the little ones outdoors to draw with chalk. Here’s a couple of their masterpieces – 

The Summer Learning Institute Camp officially started the week of June 9^th! The camp is separated into three age groups, 5- and 6-year-olds, 7- to 9-year-olds, and 10- to 13-year-olds. Each group has a designated teacher, but unfortunately, the last group’s teacher had to quit on the first day of camp. So, two of my supervisors in the education department had to oversee the class. The last-minute change was unexpected, but they both handled it with grace. And as a silver lining, I was able to shadow them and help out with watching the older kids. 

Each week of camp has a theme, for the 10- to 13-year-olds, the first week is “Time Travel.” So as an improvised lesson plan, we jumped around to various randomized time periods. We first started out by teaching the difference between B.C.E. and C.E. and put focus on prehistoric and evolutionary themes for a bit. Eventually, we touched on some prominent historical events, like the Renaissance and Pompeii. To help the lessons resonate with the kids, they created and decorated journals out of cardstock paper to write down specific facts or questions.

One cool activity that we did was a demonstration of the weight of the destruction that Mt. Vesuvius caused in Pompeii. The kids split into groups and created small towns with people out of Legos in bins and afterwards they destroyed the towns by shaking vinegar and baking soda into the bins. I was a bit mean and asked the kids to name the Lego people to give more gravity to the lesson, but they all still had a good time. 

Also, here’s a random picture of petrified wood! 

I remember visiting the Daytona Museum of Arts and Sciences for a class trip in Elementary school. There are only a couple memories I have from the visit: the sculpture garden outside of the kid’s wing, and the very fun pretend pizza kitchen inside. It makes sense that I only recall the kid’s section, but I find it funny that I made a full circle back into there as an adult education intern.

A welcoming and fun environment was established from day one. The liveliness in the back offices is just as wonderful as the exhibitions on display throughout the museum. The education department and planetarium staff work in close quarters and have amazing comradery and collaboration. They, alongside the other interns, really are just some cool nerds, which I honestly should have expected.

My first task was to organize the crafts supply closet up in the mezzanine of the children’s wing. This closet might as well had come from the depths of Tartarus. I spent a whole lot of hours battling various craft supplies, old activities, and a brigade of glue. The war was long and hard, but a worthy fight. If I seem melodramatic, here’s proof that I only somewhat am.

Here’s the before –

And the after –

The Summer Learning Institute camp starts up on Monday, June ninth. So, I’m happy that I organized the closet in time for the teachers to prep their classrooms and activities. To also prepare for the camp, it’s required that the teachers, staff, and education interns attend a three-day orientation. This includes a basic run-down of the camp’s itinerary, sexual harassment training, becoming a professionally mandated reporter for child abuse and neglect, and an in-person course with EMS specialists to receive CPR/AED certification.