The Museum Serves Special Needs Students

You may not know . . . Since 2005, students from The Education Cooperative (TEC) in Dedham have worked as Museum volunteers. These students, with moderate to intensive disabilities, partner with Museum staff to teach arts and crafts, assist with science programs and offer special activities to Museum visitors.

TEC works in partnership with school districts to provide support and access to an array of services designed to address the needs of students with disabilities aged 3-22. TEC staff members are thrilled to partner with the Children’s Museum as well.

The Children's Museum is committed to making hands-on learning experiences possible for all children, regardless of their ability, economic status, cultural heritage, 0r family structure.

According to Thomas Bruffee, TEC transition teacher. . . “perhaps the greatest benefit our students receive is that it builds self-confidence and improves their self-esteem. All of our student volunteers have been made to feel welcome at the Museum and have been given a great deal of positive reinforcement.”

“They take their responsibility very seriously” says Steven Hill, the Museum’s Program and Volunteer Manager “and they love working with kids. In return, we hope to show them what a work environment requires of them. It’s been a win-win situation.”

Serving children of all abilities is a core component of the Museum’s mission. Over the last twenty years, the Museum has also partnered with the Bi-County Collaborative in Franklin, and individual school districts throughout the area.

Blue is The New "Green"

75% of our planet is made up of water, and we all need water to survive. During the Museum’s Spring Fling we will be talking about what we can do to at home to “Go Green in Your Backyard.” But did you know that conserving water is also a very important step in working towards a healthier environment for our animal friends and us?

I had the chance to see the trailer for the upcoming Disneynature film: OCEANS, opening in theaters on Earth Day (April 22), and it looks pretty incredible! Disneynature has teamed up with The Nature Conservancy as part of “See OCEANS, Save Oceans” and a portion of each ticket sold during the film’s opening week (April 22-28) will go towards new marine protected areas in the Bahamas!
Here’s the trailer and link to the movie website: http://disney.go.com/disneynature/oceans/?videos

I love the ocean, and this has inspired me to find ways that we all can help. And, April 11-17 is National Environmental Education Week, so it is the perfect time to start. To learn more check out http://www.eeweek.org/

It’s really pretty easy for anyone to make a few changes at home to help conserve water and energy. Here are a few to get you started:

• Take shorter showers.
• Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth. (This wastes about a gallon a minute!)
• Turn off lights when you leave a room.
• Run washing machines and dishwashers only when they are full.
• Turn the thermostat up two degrees and the summer and down two degrees in the winter.
• And most importantly: Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!
The MarineBio Conservation Society lists these and many more in their 100 Ways to Make a Difference.

Another great website that I found is Kids for Saving Earth. It’s geared towards teaching children all aspects of conservation. Check out the “water” section to learn about marine creatures, and what you can do in your home to help.
http://kidsforsavingearth.org/index.html

For more activities and ideas for kids, visit the Museum’s Kids Page. Create your own recyclable flowers and learn about what you can do in your local community to conserve.

-Jennifer Nash
Public Relations and Development Intern, Children’s Museum in Easton

Another summer draws to its close, and we gear up for the fall!

As the summer winds down and we here at the Children's museum gear up for our "back to school" fall schedule we pause for our annual Fall Spruce Up! Over the course of these two weeks the Museum itself has enjoyed being worked on during the first week by staffers as well as by wonderfully generous and enthusiastic incoming freshmen student volunteers from Bridgewater State, Stonehill and Wheaton College!!! During the second week we are getting even more help and support from adult volunteers from all across the area! As always be sure to let us know if you have some spare time that you could devote to helping out the south coast's number #1 family experience!

(Right: Sarah and Melissa from Wheaton College Pitching in!)

My earliest memories of the Children's Museum as you and I now know it are not of drop-in days and birthday parties, fetch labs and field trips but.... of scrubbing huge oil stains off the floor of what is now the main exhibit hall. Those slicks left from years and years of fire engine maintenance and repair left a pretty strong sting in the back of my nostrils. Almost as vivid in my brain as the smell of that oil was the semi-panicked thought of "what has my mother gotten herself into!" Well all these years later it makes me truly proud to see what has become of our beloved Museum! The natural beauty of the building has been accentuated by the dedication, effort and spirit of each and every person who has worked so hard for so long, and been so loyal to us! You are the ones who make this all possible, and I hope you take away as much pride and enjoyment from this wonderful place as I do!

The museum and all it's staff are excitedly anticipating re-opening on Tuesday September 16th (Shameless plug: and our Scarecrow Stomp on September 21st!) We hope to see you get a chance to enjoy all the new improvements and work that we've done.... hope to see you soon!

-Andrew Peterson, an original Museum kid!