1. Self-guided includes scavenger hunt handouts

  2.  Guided by Museum staff and volunteers          

Galleries by Grade Level (based on NC & SC Standards of Learning)

Kindergarten: Focus on similarities and differences between plants and animals.  All exhibits with both live and mounted animals are a great place for students to experience the animals and plants of our coastal region.

First Grade: Learners at this age build an understanding of the needs of living organisms.  From the Seashore to the Green Swamp, see great examples of ways to identify local environments that support the needs of our local organisms.

Second Grade: Learners at this age need to build a better understanding of plant and animal life cycles.  All seven of our galleries show examples of life cycles of our local wildlife.

Third Grade: Learners at this age should focus on plant growth and adaptations.  We have examples of fresh water and salt-water plants on display and can discuss their adaptations.  Third grade also focuses heavily on the solar system; don't forget the Planetarium.

Fourth Grade: Students should make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of animal behavior and adaptations.  Students also focus on Native Americans, be sure to visit our Native American exhibit.

Fifth Grade: Learners at this age focus on the interdependence of plants and animals.  They can visit our galleries and compare several ecosystems and the functions of the organisms within the ecosystem.

• Group tours, dome shows, and programs are available Tuesday through Friday by appointment only.
• Schedule early and reserve your transportation mode and fuel budget.
• With advance planning, we can schedule visits to both the Museum and Planetarium on the same day.
• Maximum group size at the Museum is 60 students per timeframe.
• Maximum group size at the Planetarium is 85 in the dome theater.
• Restrooms and gift shops are included as a tour stop.
• Arrive on time. Late arrivals cannot delay another group's appointment.
• Chaperones and their assigned group of 10 students are required to stay in the same gallery at all times. Chaperones are responsible for the behavior of their students.

• School name, street address, and phone number
• Contact teacher's name, home/cell numbers, and email address
• Grade level and number of students
• Preferred visit date w/two alternative dates
• Special needs issues
• Lunch plans
• Adult chaperones 10:1 ratio
• Plan arrival and departure times

Approval:

• Get your principal's approval and get forms signed.
• Complete & process your transportation and fuel funding form.

Confirmation:

• Get verbal confirmation from the Museum and/or the Planetarium. 
• A written confirmation will be mailed to you.
• Call if your plans change.

Lunch on your own:

• Museum does not have facilities for lunch. 
• Ocean Isle Beach Community Center, three blocks from the Museum has sheltered picnic tables and restroom. 
• Call Ocean Isle Beach Town Hall at 910.579.2166 for reservations and instructions.

• Teach what a museum is.
• Teach museum etiquette.
• Teach responsibilities of chaperones and teachers.
• Pre-teach the curriculum.
• Call and confirm your visit a week in advance.
• Make name tags.
• Review travel route & distribute copies to all drivers and teachers.
• Collect admission fees for each facility from students & chaperones.
• Prepare separate payments for each facility.

• Wear name tags.
• Review Museum & Planetarium etiquette.
• Review chaperone & teacher responsibilities.
• Call if you are delayed for any reason.
• Full payment for each facility is due upon arrival.
• Enjoy the day!

Natural History… for the fun of it!

Pre-Teaching Ideas

We are pleased that you are considering bringing your students on a field trip to our museum.  Be sure to arrive on time, late arrivals may be cancelled if there is a group following.  Please review the pre-teaching ideas to better enhance your experience.

A GREAT place to start discussing your field trip is driving over the Odell Williamson Bridge to Ocean Isle Beach.  Discuss with your students ahead of time that they will be going over a large bridge that connects Ocean Isle Beach to the mainland.  The body of water they will be crossing is the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.  This waterway runs the length of the Eastern Seaboard (Maine to Miami Fl).  It is 3,000 statute miles long.  It is part man-made and part natural.  

 Good questions to ask the students as you cross the bridge are:

Do you see water?

Do you think its low tide or high tide?

Is it the ocean?

Can you see the ocean?

Do you see any animals, boats, people, birds?

Once you arrive at the museum please plan on a staff person meeting you in the parking lot while the students get into lines.  You will then all go to the lecture hall for a brief introduction and video.  Once you are divided into groups you will begin your tour.

Changing Tides Gallery:

In this gallery your students can explore:

·        Shipwright’s Tools

·        Navigational equipment

·        Shark jaws

·        Megabites: shark teeth exhibit

·        Model Ships

·        Wave Machine

·        Tide Machine

·        Shark Tooth Origami

Vocabulary:

erosion                wave                             energy                 crest

undertow             frequency                     tsunamis             rip current

sandbar               earthquake                   wavelength         breaker

trough                 longshore drift              surf                      barrier beach

dune                    hurricane                      high tide             low tide

1.    What is an ocean wave?

2.    What things determine its height, frequency, and wavelength?

3.    What happens to a wave as it approaches the shoreline?  Why?

4.    What are tsunamis?  A rip current?

5.    How does the energy of tides and waves affect the shoreline?

6.    What precautions can you take when swimming in the ocean?

7.    Why is it important to control the pollution of our oceans?

8.    What can each person do to help reduce pollution?

Information on tides :

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8r.html

Shark teeth and jaws:

·        Look at our shark jaws and notice that sharks have several rows of teeth.

·        When one falls out the one behind it replaces it.  They have an infinite number of teeth.  They grow new ones throughout their lives. 

·        Most students will notice that the teeth are white on the jaws, but black when you find them on the beach.  This is because they have become fossils.  

Waterways Gallery:

·        Litterbug Hall of Shame

·        NC River Basins

·        NEW! Pollution:  Streams to the Sea

o       For information on NC river basins and non-point pollution:  http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/public/ecoaddress/riverbasins/riverbook.pdf

o       http://www.epa.gov/owow/NPS/whatis.html

Green Swamp:

Vocabulary:

swamp                forest                  beach                  habitat

mammal              bird                     amphibian           reptile

fish                      survive                predator              prey

food chain          insect                  energy                 shelter

camouflage        similar                 different              shellfish

In our Green Swamp Gallery students ALWAYS ask about the animals.  They were alive at one time.  After they died of natural causes, or an accident, they were stuffed and mounted so that they could be viewed and learned about here in the museum. 

  A Swamp is a wet habitat that provides a home for a large variety of flora and fauna (plants and animals).  The diorama you will see includes wetlands, swamp and woods in the painting on the wall showing animals of Coastal Carolina in their natural habitats.  You will see alligators, snakes, wild turkeys, water birds, flying insects, and mammals.  A good activity to do with the students is to try to categorize the animals by their class. 

Fun interactive questions are:

1.    How many snakes do you see in the swampland? 

2.    Which animals live primarily in water?

3.    Which animals can climb trees? 

4.    What types of insects do you see? 

For more information on the Green Swamp in NC go to:

http://www.northcarolinaoutdoors.com/places/coast/greenswamp.html

Seashore Gallery

·        Touch Tank with live sea animals.

·        Animal relationships and habitats.

·        Movement patterns and feeding habits.

·        Personalities and peculiarities of our touch tank creatures.

·        Shell collection of 200 plus different shells.

·        Fossil collection.

·        Minerals found in one cubic yard of water.

·        HANDS-ON  Touch live sea creatures with docent assistance.

Touch Tank

Rules to discuss with your students prior to your visit:

1.       These are living creatures; please show them respect.

2.       Please leave any creatures that are attached to the sides alone, pulling an animal that is attached will injure it.

3.       Wait for instructions before putting hands in the water.

4.       Ask about our two fingers rule J

5.       Have fun!!!

Some of the animals you will see in our touch tank are:

Whelk                             

Sea Urchin

Sea Star     

Filefish            

Sea Squirt        

Hermit Crab         

Spider Crab       

Vocabulary you may want to discuss with your students regarding our Touch Tank:

anemone                      hermit crab                    scotch bonnet

bivalve                          invertebrate                   sea urchin

camouflage                  mollusk                          egg cases

conch                           horseshoe crab            sea star

fossil                            blenny                           univalve              

whelk                            tentacles                     habitat

Some things our docents will discuss are:

What do these animals need to live?  (Water, sunlight, food)

How are these animals similar/different?

Discuss bivalve (mollusk with two shells) and univalve (mollusk covered with a single coiled shell)

They may discuss shells on display.

For more information on Coastal Carolina Seashells go to:

http://www.north-carolina-sea-shells.blogspot.com/

The North Carolina seashell is the Scotch Bonnet:

http://www.ncwildlife.org/pg07_WildlifeSpeciesCon/Profiles/bonnetscotch.pdf

The South Carolina seashell is the Lettered Olive:

http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/beach_kids/sea_shells/lettered_olive/

Ocean Reef Gallery:

·        Imagine walking through a reef 65 miles off NC coast!

·        Life size models of whales and sharks.

·        Fish with distinctive characteristics.

·        Rays, turtles, octopus, eel.

·        Diorama of natural and man-made reefs.

Vocabulary:

reef                      extinct                            microscopic

camouflage         food chain                     pollution

vertebrate            invertebrate                   adaptation

habitat                  plankton                        coral

Basic Ocean Facts:

1.     Our Earth is a water plane, 71% of its surface is water.

2.     All oceans and seas are connected.

3.     People around the world depend on fish as a main source of food.

For more information on oceans:

http://www.mos.org/oceans/

Barrier Island Gallery:

In this gallery you will see:

·        Differences in land and sea turtles. 

·        Life cycle of Loggerhead Sea turtles.

·        Hands-on:  Actual size model of loggerhead mother turtle with a video to watch inside of a sand dune.

·        Sea Turtles:  a game of survival.  A hands-on game that explores the dangerous a baby sea turtle faces upon hatching.

Vocabulary:

dunes                  endangered                  flippers                hatchling

island                   loggerhead                   nest                      tracks        

sargassum          Gulf Stream                  incubate               carapace

For information on Loggerhead Sea Turtles in NC and SC visit:

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/seaturtle/

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/loggerhead.htm

For children’s activities about Loggerhead Sea Turtles visit:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/coloringbook/leatherback.html

http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson111.shtml

Coastal Plain Gallery:

          In this Gallery you will enjoy:

·        A mounted Bald Eagle.

·        Shorebirds.

·        Waterfowl habitat/ diorama.

·        Backyard birds.

·        Live finch aviary.

·        Native American culture with dugout canoes, tools, and projectiles points.

·        Hands-on:  Deer bones, food, alphabet tracing.

Vocabulary:

beak                    adaptation                     talons                   feathers

warm-blooded    species                         habitat                  markings

bill                        predator                        hatchlings            mudflats

migrate

For information on shorebirds go to:

http://www.audubon.org/

http://www.ncaudubon.org/

http://www.beidlerforest.com/index.html

I hope you have found this teacher resource helpful.

Please send comments or feedback to Allison@museumofcc.org. 

Hands-on exhibits and extensive wildlife dioramas depict the animals that live in the Green Swamp, Barrier Islands, and Coastal Plains. Immerse yourself in the Ocean Reef, the southeast's largest dry aquarium. Educational programs are based on National, NC, & SC science standards and reinforce your classroom lesson plans.

The Ocean Isle Museum Foundation, Inc. governs the Museum of Coastal Carolina and Ingram Planetarium. The foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. Your admission fees and donations help support the Museum and Planetarium's educational programs, exhibits, and facility expense.

For more information: email Allison Smith allison@museumofcc.org.

Homeschool Day 2009 To be announced