As we continue our Chomtober celebration, this week we will focus on weekly programs. Laura Bush is the Museum Educator, and heads up programs like Full S.T.E.A.M Ahead, Movin' and Groovin', along with CHOM at Home. You can find CHOM events on our community calendar by clicking HERE.
Also, this week we have a special GIVEAWAY! Look at the bottom of this post for GIVEAWAY details. The winner has been announced! Congratulations to Hatice S for winning the CHOM Giveaway!
What is Full S.T.E.A.M. Ahead?
CHOM provides young learners with opportunities in the museum to create, discover, and explore the world of S.T.E.A.M: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. CHOM’s objective is to provide opportunities for learners to use higher level thinking skills as they create and explore a different topic each week. Children are more engaged in subject matter when subjects overlap, so STEAM activities promote deeper learning, greater memory of subject matter and STEAM is fun! For this next month, we are doing different fall themed S.T.E.A.M. activities, that relate to the themes of that Saturday. For this first week, Sep. 30 th & Ot. 1 st , we will be foing leaf chromatography, and exploring how and why the leaves on the trees change color in the fall. Week 2(oct. 6 & 8), with the theme of creepy crawlies, the S.T.E.A.M. activity will be exploring and engineering spider webs. Week 3(13 th & 15 th ), we’ll do different experiments to make “ghosts” “float”! The 4 th week. We will be doing different monster science experiments. The last week, will be related to color theory. S.T.E.A.M. activities take place every Wednesday & Friday, from 1-4.
CHOM at Home:
The Children’s Hands-On Museum (CHOM) is a dynamic learning experience that stimulates curiosity, creativity, and shared discovery in all ages. CHOM at home brings that dynamic learning experience to you in video form! All CHOM at Home video content is designed using Alabama courses of study learning standards, PreK-5th grade. Using those learning standards, we created fun and educational videos on a variety of topics for parents, students and teachers! Videos could be accessed on social media or on CHOM’s website. Currently I am beginning work on a new CHOM at home series called “The book of wonder,” where I research and discuss topics of things kids wonder about. All video topics from this series are based on questions that kids ask.
****Note for CHOM at Home: Laura is currently the only one editing videos, and has a very busy schedule. So there have not been super recent videos uploaded. During the lockdown, CHOM at Home was a new experience each week. Now that the museum is open and weekly programming has resumed, it can pose a challenge to get the new content uploaded.****
Movin’ & Groovin’
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10:00am, we meet in CHOM’s art studio for “Movin’ & Groovin’!” Movin’ & Groovin is a music program that I teach, designed for children ages birth-4 years old (those who have not yet started school). During these classes, I lead children (& their parents!) in singing songs and moving around.
1.What's your name? Where are you from?
I’m Laura Bush! I was a military kid, so I’m basically from everywhere!
2. When did you start working with CHOM?
I began working at CHOM in February of 2020!
3. What did you want "to be when you grew up?"
I always wanted to be a teacher!
4. Does that relate to your current experience at CHOM now?
Absolutely! I am a licensed PreK-6 th grade educator. I get to teach all kinds of fun things at
CHOM, from music to STEAM!
5. How has working at CHOM enhanced your life, or the lives of your family members (or those close to
you)?
It’s been fun to get to explore a larger range of topics and learning models than I would be in
the standard classroom.
6. What is your favorite exhibit at the museum?
My favorite exhibit is DCH!
7. Of all the experiences CHOM offers which is your favorite?
Movin’ & Groovin is definitely one of my favorites! It’s always fun to sing & dance with all of
our CHOM friends!
