Connections

Connections is a comprehensive outreach program designed to create sustainable relationships between the Museum and our community members. The Museum is currently partnering with 35 local preschools, including 1,250 participating children, through Marin Head Start, Marin Community Child Development Program, San Francisco Unified School District Child Development Program, Wu Yee Children’s Services and Contra Costa Head Start. Each partner preschool will be visited by a Museum educator and will subsequently receive transportation and admission to the Museum for five visits annually. Four visits will be made with teachers and preschool staff and one visit will include the families of the children. Each visit will include extended programming related to the annual theme On the Bay. In addition to on-site programming, the Museum has developed an Enriched Curriculum Packet to support preschool teachers make their visits to the Museum an integrated part of their classroom. Each participating school has committed to work with the Museum for three years in order to create meaningful relationships between the children, teachers, families and the Museum.

For more information, contact Heather Miller at hmiller(at)badm.org or (415) 339-3916.

Pictures from Connections visits

Special Thanks to the Generous Funders of Connections:

Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
James Wilkinson
GAP Foundation
Irene S. Scully Foundation
County of Marin
Bernard Osher Foundation
Gamble Foundation

Connections Spring 2011 Update

Through Connections, we strive to extend access to creative play experiences to children in communities not normally served by Museum programs and to support early childhood educators as they build upon Museum experiences back at school. At the Museum, we know exploration and experimentation are key elements to nurturing creativity in young children. Partner educators are expanding on those elements back in their classrooms—trying things out, inventing new uses for tools and materials, and finding freedom and a sense of playfulness in learning.

When we asked this year’s Connections partner-educators to tell us about how the first half of their school year was going, here is what a few of them said:

• Our children have become really interested in using “tools” (bughouses, catchers, magnifying glasses, etc.) to search for insects on our playground. They’re not afraid to dig and get dirty, as they do that as “scientists” at the Museum.
• We have done a lot of building—using recyled junk from the children’s homes—to make buildings, roads, cities. Also, the kids have enjoyed trying out some experiments they’ve done at the Museum.
• Some of the children started trying different ways of using materials at the science area and focusing on deeper understanding of how and why things work.
• We are experimenting with making wind in different ways, we are playing with rain machines, making rain; playing with a globe/Earth & a flashlight/sun etc.
• I have observed that the children have come up with a lot more ideas. They have become more creative when they are working with art materials.
• The visit inspired me to let my students have free time where they can draw, color, paint and use their creativity.
• My students have been interested in the workers from the Museum that came to visit the classroom. Every time children visit the Museum they say, “do you remember when you came to our school?”

Connections Update: Spring 2010

It is clear the Bay Area Discovery Museum is a special place for children. We also work closely with teachers in creating great learning environments for their students.  Educators participating in Connections each receive a curriculum binder full of creative ideas to help integrate the Museum into their classroom. Throughout the year, Museum staff also visit each room to reinforce our relationship. By supporting educators, we can have a lasting impact in children’s lives. Many of the great projects you see at the Museum can easily be recreated in your own classroom or home.

Teachers share how their Museum visits have impacted the classrooms:

• “It inspired us to create a cave under a light up table.”
• “Our kids were searching the playground for worms! They pulled out old, dead vegetation in our yard and put the things they found in bug catchers.”
• “They noticed that their spaghetti lunch looked like worms.”
• “I am planning to include some components in my classroom environment. Most exemplary was the wind tunnel.”
• “I am planning on switching our sand to bird seeds at the sand table.”
• “My students have interest with the workers from the Museum that came to visit the classroom. Every time children visit the Museum they say, ‘Do you remember when you came to our school?’”

Connections Fall Update

When was the last time you spent an afternoon with your hands in the dirt? And I mean really getting messy—digging, mixing, shaking, stirring, and pouring dirt and water. When did you last spend quality time looking at a worm? Did you notice how it moves its body? Or how it feels in your hand? Can you remember the satisfaction of spending endless hours outside? For many of the children participating in the Connections program, visits to the Museum provide a rare opportunity to spend time in the outdoors in a safe, comfortable environment.

In its second year, Connections is providing over 1,250 children time to explore nature through creative play. Through extended programming around the theme On the Bay—the land, sea, and air around the Bay Area—children will mix up mud pies, hold worms, climb around trees, dissect an owl pellet, create flying creatures, visit our beach, and more. And within Lookout Cove’s 2.5 acres, children can spend countless hours discovering the great outdoors.

We know it has been a successful visit when they leave the Museum covered with dirt, mud, paint and a smile on their face. Hopefully, these children will remember their time at the Museum and continue to nurture their relationship with their local environment.

Here are some simple ideas to support your children in creative outdoor play:

• Fill a large bin with dirt. Place gardening tools, watering cans, and buckets. Allow children to dig, mix, and explore the many different types of mud they can create. Dress your children in older clothes and allow them to be covered in mud.
• Or simply go outside and play in the rain and mud. Adults seem to worry more about getting wet and messy then children. Make sure you have dry clothes and a warm cup of hot chocolate ready inside. Mud and water are excellent sensory experiences that support children’s understanding of their bodies and their surroundings.
• Go on a bug hunt. After a rain is the best time to find worms, slugs, and snails. Let your children hold them—they won’t bite! What does it feel like? How do they move their bodies? Make sure you put your found creatures back where you found them.
• Or simply put out dirt, shovels, seeds, and water. Wait and see what grows!

Connections Year in Review 2009

At the end of the first year of our new Community Outreach Program, Connections, we reflect on the success of this innovative effort. We have hosted four visits by each of the over 800 children from our 22 partner preschool classrooms. That adds up to over 3,500 visits for our preschool friends and over 1,700 visits by their teachers, adult caregivers and parents.

It has been extremely satisfying to develop relationships with these children and adults over the year. We have witnessed the tremendous social, emotional, physical and intellectual growth of the 3 and 4-year-olds and have seen the children adopt the Museum as their own special place to express their creativity and learn through exploration of our exhibitions. We also hosted each group one more time, inviting each child to come back to the Museum and act as an ambassador for their extended family members, so whole families can share the fun and enriching experiences at our Museum.

Behind the scenes, we are conducting thorough evaluations of our first year in preparation for the upcoming year. We will continue working with the same classrooms again as well as adding new partners, including classrooms from Contra Costa Head Start in the City of Richmond. Connections will help us reach our goal to have all the visitors to the Museum reflect the ethnic, cultural and economic diversity of San Francisco and Marin counties.