Archive: Around Town

First-graders from Cayuga Heights and South Hill Elementary Schools visited the Museum of the Earth together last month as part of the Kids Discover the Trail! program. Cayuga Heights students and their South Hill buddies spent the day exploring exhibits about whales, fossils and dinosaurs. KDT! is a collaboration of the Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI), the Discovery Trail, and the Ithaca City School District (ICSD).

“I really enjoy the principles behind the KDT! program, particularly the accessibility,” said Johanna Batman, museum educator. “A lot of these kids we’d never see otherwise. “It’s a chance to reach a lot of kids and have a positive impact.”

Created in 2005, KDT! gives every student in the district the opportunity to visit all eight sites of the Discovery Trail during elementary school. The program has grown to include paired-classroom learning experiences with planned curriculum, KDT! books, and KDT! “buddy-up” trips. This year ICSD fifth-graders will become the first class to complete the entire Kids Discover the Trail! program. A community event, “Full Circle Celebration,” is set for Saturday, May 12, 10:00 am-1:00 pm at all eight sites.

At the Museum of the Earth, students with their buddies were divided into small groups that rotated among four sections of the museum—the Right Whale #2030 exhibit, Dino Lab, Fossil Lab, and the Hyde Park Mastodon exhibit. 

“It’s the best way for young kids to tour,” said Batman. “This way they can sit down and have an experience from all the areas in the museum.”

At the Right Whale #2030 exhibit, docent Lenore Durkee, read students a story about whales.  She discussed the difference between water and land mammals, and what it means to for a species to be extinct. Durkee then gave each student—and the teacher—a chance to hold a flipper and pretend to be a whale.

“It’s good to help children understand something that’s happening all the time, like extinction,” said Durkee. “It’s really the beginning of their science education; they’re learning how life works.”

In the Dino Lab, students and their buddies sorted a cup of small rubber dinosaurs based on their physical characteristics. Students found that some dinosaurs had horns or spikes while others had large tails or claws. The museum docent explained that dinosaurs were able to survive based on their physical attributes. As students moved out of the dinosaur lab, they saw a large Tyrannosaurus Rex head hanging from the ceiling.

“I am so not sticking my head in that,” said Chayton Hart, a first-grader from South Hill. “I’m so glad I wasn’t around back then.”

At the Fossil Lab, students sat among rocks from New York State lakes, and were given magnifying glasses, pencils and paper to record their findings like a scientist or collector. Surrounding them were other displays of local animal life.

“My daughter loves the animals,” said Marcy Torchia, who attended the field trip with her daughter Isabella, a first-grader at South Hill.  She noted that her family has turtles, baby ducks and frogs at their home. “She is into this. She loves learning all about where things come from.”

“I like everything,” Isabella said.

Torchia said she liked the buddy component of KDT!. “It socializes her more with different people outside her classroom,” she said. “This opens her up to meeting other kids.”
Nancy Marino, first grade teacher at South Hill, said many students remember what they learn on this trip. “The kids pick up facts and retain them,” she said.  

“KDT! has been a great forum for expanding and improving our programming for our very youngest visitors,” Batman said. “It’s about educating students about their own back yards.”

“For a lot of kids, they won’t have this experience of coming to a museum,” said Marino.  “It’s a good connection for student who can go home and bring their families back.”

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