The Museum's Education Programs
On October 17, the Museum launched its first year-long, after-school program “Chesapeake Champions,” which is being sponsored by a $10,000 grant from Bank of America. Through three six-week sessions, over 100 students from Eastport Elementary School will connect to the environment and culture of the Chesapeake Bay through hands-on, life-changing activities that are a direct application of their school curricula in reading, math, and science. Each week the students spend the first 15 minutes at a different activity station: testing and measuring the environment (water temperature, water salinity, air temperature and water clarity); caring for, observing, measuring, and documenting the museum’s terrapins and oysters; and accounting funds the students are raising to support the upkeep of the terrapins.
During the 30-minute program each week, students meet people who work on, work with, or are inspired by the Chesapeake Bay and together they explore the natural and cultural history of the Chesapeake Bay through hands-on experiences and exploration opportunities not available in school. The first six weeks have included a boat ride—the first for one-third of the children—an in-depth exploration of oysters and terrapins, meeting a working waterman, and writing their own Bay-inspired song with singer-songwriter Janie Meneely. At the end of each session students record facts and their thoughts in observation logs, which their teachers collect and respond with thought-provoking questions and comments.
On October 25 the Museum launched its first “Treasure Our Waters” school education program. Through this partnership with local tour company Watermark, students spend one hour at the museum exploring through hands-on activities water, watersheds, and water conservation; oysters and their benefit to Chesapeake Bay; and the variety of creatures that live together in the water, which they collect with a seine net and observe first hand. The second hour of the program, students experience the water themselves through a boat ride and activities that encourage observation of and reflection about the maritime environment.
The 4th-grade education committee is working on revising its pilot program and will be more closely focusing the program around “Bay Icons.” Last spring’s 8th-grade pilot program was inducted into the Volunteer Center For Anne Arundel County’s Volunteer Hall of Fame and won the Business Project Award.
Overview of Annapolis' Maritime History
Annapolis Maritime Museum |
PO Box 3088 |
Annapolis, MD 21403
410 295-0104
office@amaritime.org
