Fifth Grade Science at the American Museum of Natural History

On April 24 and 25, fifth graders took a break from the classroom and visited the American Museum of Natural History.

Accompanied by their science teacher, Mr. Parsons, and homeroom teachers, Mr. Brady and Mrs. Cunningham, the boys walked to the museum from school, enjoying the beautiful spring weather, tree blossoms, and saxophone music played by a musician in the park.

When they arrived at the museum, Mr. Parsons led them to the Hall of Planet Earth and challenged them to examine the earth’s changing climate.  Students located examples of ice cores and deep sea sediment cores and learned how the different layers revealed information about the earth’s climate at specific moments in time.  The boys were amazed to realize that one core could reveal temperature trends for thousands of years.  The boys learned about the importance of coral reefs and examined a coral core to determine how long that coral lived and how many weather events it had recorded.  They examined exhibits about global warming, including an interactive screen where they could see before and after photos of specific locations, revealing dramatic changes to environments throughout the world.  There was time for everyone to reflect, write, and return to specific parts of the exhibit to explore further.

On their way out, Mr. Parsons walked the boys by a couple of his favorite spots in the museum, and then they were off to the park for lunch and a leisurely walk back to school.
Back