2nd Grade Concepts 2004

2nd Grade Unit
Adult Guides

Thank you for volunteering to guide a group of students today.

We have four exhibits that the children will investigate today. You’ve been given a map to help you locate them.

CROSSROADS – This exhibit about the Hohokam demonstrates the importance of community to a culture.
The Dallis School House – This exhibit shows what a one room school house, in this case the school for African- American children living in Casa Grande before 1954, looks like.
The Trekell Barn – This exhibit is designed to help us understand how farming and ranching was done in the Casa Grande Valley during the past century.
The Kitchen – This replica of a farm kitchen, when studied closely, helps us see how family life and the equipment associated with preparing food and caring for clothing was done before electricity.

Your task is to lead the children from one exhibit to the other, encourage them to tell you what they see in response to the question on the exhibit page in your packet, and write down what they tell you. Encouraging them to look beyond the surface can give the children insights into their own lives and make history lively for them.

You will have 5-7 minutes at each exhibit, and 3-5 minutes for moving from one exhibit to another. The museum volunteer will ring the school bell to tell you when to move on and when you should have reached your new location. The total amount of time for the rotation of the four exhibits is approximately 40 minutes.

When you reach the last exhibit, you will have an additional 5 minutes to ask the children to consider “What makes all people alike?” This should generate statements based on what they have already seen and comments you’ve written down for them. The school bell will ring to call you all back to the Dallis School House.

After the groups have returned, the museum volunteer will ask you to have children from your group bring the completed sheets about the four exhibits up to the front and tape them on the wall. Responses to the SAME are put on the left; DIFFERENT are on the right. You should give the teacher the page “What makes all people alike?” The volunteer will lead a discussion, if there is time.

All the responses are sent back to the school with the class. The teacher is encouraged to use the information generated by this activity as the basis for a writing assignment or an art project when the class returns to school.

2nd Grade Unit AGENDA

Four exhibits are investigated in this unit that asks the children to look for things that are the SAME as they see in their own lives today and for things that are DIFFERENT.v

The four exhibits are:

CROSSROADS – This exhibit about the Hohokam demonstrates the importance of community to a culture.
The Dallis School House – This exhibit shows what a one room school house, in this case the school for African- American children living in Casa Grande before 1954, looks like.
The Trekell Barn – This exhibit is designed to help us understand how farming and ranching was done in the Casa Grande Valley during the past century.
The Kitchen – This replica of a farm kitchen, when studied closely, helps us see how family life and the equipment associated with preparing food and caring for clothing was done before electricity.

If possible we ask that adult volunteers, rather than the teacher, serve as group facilitators. This enables the teacher to move among the groups, assure that the students (and the adults) are on task, and get a sense of the total visit. The adult volunteers are asked to lead the children from one exhibit to the other, encourage them to tell what they see in response to the question on the exhibit page in each packet, and to write down what they are told.

The time at each exhibit is 5-7 minutes, and the groups move from one exhibit to another in 3-5 minutes. The museum volunteer ring the school bell to tell the groups when to move on and when they should have reached a new location. The total amount of time for the rotation of the four exhibits is approximately 40 minutes.

At the last exhibit, an additional 5 minutes is given to allow the children to consider “What makes all people alike?” This should generate statements based on what they have already seen and the written comments. The school bell calls them back to the Dallis School House for the summary activity.

After the groups have returned, the museum volunteer asks to have children from each group bring the completed sheets about the four exhibits up to the front and tape them on the wall. Responses to the SAME are put on the left; DIFFERENT are on the right. The teacher receives the page “What makes all people alike?” The volunteer will lead a discussion, if there is time.

All the responses are sent back to the school with the class. The teacher is encouraged to use the information generated by this activity as the basis for a writing assignment or an art project when the class returns to school.