In our third installment of CHOMtober, I was able to learn more about field trip coordinator, Melissa Roberts. If you would like to be entered in our GIVEAWAY for a family pack (of 4) CHOM tickets, CLICK HERE. There is a form in our CHOMtober part 2. Melissa was born in Tuscaloosa. She has worked as the Museum Educator at CHOM for about eight years. Before that she taught school for twenty-six years, and loves teaching field trips on a variety of topics and teaching various age groups. Melissa said, "I have learned so much about Chemistry and Electricity since working at CHOM that I never taught with the younger grades. My favorite things to do at CHOM are field trips, of course, and the Japan House. My advice to students is to be kind to people who are different than you so they feel more accepted!"
I love what Melissa has to say about the field trip program at the Children's Hands On Museum. She really loves getting to do this program, and the children of our community.
"Our field trips are based on the Alabama Course of Study Standards.
We do activities that teachers would have a hard time duplicating in their classroom. We have lots of planning time, rooms set up and activities spread out. We have lots of help to prep materials/activities. We can divide the classes up into smaller groups with our staff teaching different activities.
Most of our field trips combine several grade level standards in programs so children review previous grade level standards and then further their knowledge in the subject matter. We emphasize the knowledge for their grade but also try to enrich their knowledge on the topic.
We do field trips for PreK, K-2 and 3-5 grades. Even if the topics are similar, some of the activities will differ due to developmental differences!
Teachers provide feedback and make suggestions. We’ve developed field trips based on a teacher idea! We’ve altered our teaching based on children’s questions.
We are adapting the programs this year to offer CHOM on Wheels: field trips to the schools in addition to offering field trips at CHOM.
We offer self-guided exhibit tours to Homeschool groups with 10 or more people.
Our October Program at CHOM and CHOM on Wheels is Bump in the Night. This program compares three nocturnal animals: owls, bats and possums."
If you would like to schedule a field trip or homeschool field trip to CHOM, call Melissa Roberts (205) 349-4235
or email her at melissa@chomonline.org
