Wild Weather Extravaganza

Grades: 1-4
Program duration: approximately 2 hours
Available only on November 8, 2007, February 7 and April 3, 2008
Cost: $6/person

This special program offers students a passport to learning about the weather, as they participate in hands-on activity stations throughout the Museum. What makes the weather work? Students explore and investigate air, pressure, water, and temperature, and their effects on us and the weather. Students will make a weather station to take home, along with journal pages to track and predict weather patterns. They'll watch demonstrations that whiz and bang, do experiments that really blow the roof off, see a puppet show about the water cycle, and learn to dance the states of matter. A scavenger hunt highlights weather-related themes in the natural world. Join us!

MCF: Science I.1, II.1, V.2, V.3

Bats of the World

Grades: K-12
Join the Organization for Bat Conservation for this special 1 hour program
Available only on December 12, 2007 and April 16, 2008
Cost: $6/person

Featuring the large fruit bats called flying foxes, and much more! Step into the world of bats with this exciting multimedia presentation with a cultural-geographic perspective. Topics include sound waves, ecosystems, food webs, and conservation. See live U.S. bats, South American bats, and rare African bats with 4-foot wing-spans!

MCF: Science: I.E.1,3,4:M.1.:H.1. II.1E.4:M.5:H.6; III.2.E.1-4:M.4:H.3, III.4.E.2; III.5.E.1-5, M.1,2,6:H.1-4

The Three Fires of Michigan: Natural History from a Native American Perspective

Grades 1-8
Cost: $6/person
Program duration: approximately 2 hours
November 15, 2007 only

Step out of the text books to sing, dance, and see the natural world in new ways with the people of the Three Fires (the Ojibwe, Bodewadami and Odawa tribes). Hear stories in Ojibwe and English and meet local members of the Native American community as both science and Michigan history come alive. Students will discover which elements are significant to local tribes, how the tribes are working to preserve the Great Lakes, and how Native people hunt and prepare a wild turkey. Using a mix of song and theater, students will have the opportunity to experience the Museum as presented by the people indigenous to the area.