Brucemobile Outreach Programs for School and After-School

The Brucemobile is an educational outreach program that travels to classrooms, like a field trip in reverse!

Brucemobile Programs are:

• developmentally appropriate
• interactive
• hands-on/minds-on
• inquiry-based

All Brucemobile Programs feature Museum objects.

Programs are offered to schools within a 25-mile radius of the Museum.

To learn how to schedule a visit, click here.

To view more information on the following Brucemobile Programs, please see our Activities and Lesson Plans.There you will find background information, curriculum connections, classroom activities, and further resources for each of these programs.

For further questions about Brucemobile Programs please contact Sheean Haley, Manager of Outreach Education, shaley@brucemuseum.org or (203) 869-6786, ext. 323.

Click to view programs by:

Pre-School
Grades K, 1, 2
Grades 3, 4, 5
Middle School and High School
After-School

Pre-School (3-4 YEARS)

Pre-school Programs are 30 minutes.
Class size is limited to:

• 15 children for 3 year olds
• 20 children for 4 year olds

• Crusty Crabs
  Classifying, observing, describing, and comparing live marine animals.

• Shapes and Patterns
  Children will define 5 basic shapes, find shapes in natural objects from museum collections, and create patterns and symmetry. Pattern activity included.

• Animals in my Backyard
  Using museum mounts, children will identify, touch and describe the function of animal coverings of mammals, birds and reptiles.
  

Programs are 45 minutes to one hour in length.

• Butterflies and Insects
  Students explore symmetry in nature while learning about the structure of butterflies and insects. The life cycle, adaptations, habitats, and camouflage patterns of butterflies and insects are also introduced. Museum specimens and photographs create a visually comprehensive classroom experience.

• Crusty Crabs (May – November)
  Through careful observation of live crabs and other small seashore animals, children learn about the structure and characteristics of crabs and other crustaceans, and their place in the seashore community.

• Coastal Ecosystems (May – November)
  Through simulated tide pools and hands-on investigation, students are introduced to the community structure of the intertidal habitat and learn about food chains. Students observe and identify small, live, intertidal organisms.

• Dinosaurs
  Fossilized dinosaur bones, teeth, footprints, and other parts are used by students to reconstruct the size, food preferences, and movement of these ‘terrible lizards’. Comparison is made between dinosaurs and modern animals. Through observation and comparison, students become paleontologists, conducting their own fossil dig.

• Animal Adaptations
  Different body coverings, colors and physical structures help vertebrates adapt to their environment, find food and escape from predators. Students learn these concepts while handling fur pelts and mounted mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

• Woodland Indian Life
  Native American artifacts and reproductions are used to help recreate the life of a Woodland Indian family before colonial contact.

Programs are one hour in length.

• Coastal Ecology: Communities and Ecosystems
  Through hands-on investigation of a tide-pool community, students are introduced to community structure and learn about food chains. Students observe and identify small, live, intertidal organisms. Concepts include adaptations, populations and communities, ecosystems, producers and consumers, and food chains and webs.

• Desert Ecology
  Students investigate the properties of a desert ecosystem and discuss special adaptations of the animals and plants that inhabit these areas. Experimentation and handling Museum specimens provide hands-on activities for the students.

• Light and Color
  Students explore properties of light, refraction, diffraction, iridescence and chromatography through demonstration and hands-on, minds-on experiments. Man-made and natural specimens from the Museum’s collection are provided as examples to reinforce learned concepts.

• Woodland Indian Life
  By handling materials, students will participate in recreating the life of a Native American family before Colonial contact.

• Rock Detectives
  This program allows students to observe demonstrations of the geologic processes that cause the rock cycle, and even become a part of the rock cycle themselves! Rock samples, demonstrations of Pangaea and plate tectonics, and interactive activities encourage students to use their hands and minds to explore earth’s dynamic processes. As their final element of detective work, students will act as geologists working in teams to deduce where their rock came from in the earth, how it formed, and what type of rock it is. .

• Skeletons
  Students will identify the location and purpose of major bones in humans and animals and develop related vocabulary. Through discussion, demonstration and hands-on activities, students will distinguish between endoskeletons and exoskeletons and describe the functions of a skeleton. Students will dissect owl pellets to uncover and identify rodent bones.

Classroom Programs are 40 minutes to one hour in length.

• Light and Color (Middle School)
  Students explore properties of light, refraction, diffraction, iridescence and chromatography through demonstration and hands-on, minds-on experiments. Man-made and natural specimens from the Museum’s collection are provided as examples to reinforce learned concepts.

• Prehistoric Peoples
  Award-winning, traveling exhibition presented by instructors from the Archaeological Associates of Greenwich (AAG) enables students to handle authentic prehistoric tools while learning about the progress of humankind from 4 million to 5,000 years ago. Slides and artifacts stress ancient peoples’ adaptations to their changing environment. Slide projector and world map required.

• Egypt
  Instructors from the Archaeological Associates of Greenwich (AAG) offer stories behind the fabled pyramids, kings and queens of ancient Egypt’s Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. Sites and artifacts are shown with emphasis on the life of young people. Adaptation to the harsh desert environment is stressed.

  Assembly Programs are one hour in length, and can accommodate up to a full auditorium.
  Fee: $195 per program.
  Slide projector required
  

  • Egypt
  • The First Cities
  • Ancient Greece
  • Ancient Rome

  Note: Subjects can be customized to fit curriculum needs.

Programs are activity oriented. Some are adapted from our regular school titles with a different focus, while some are specifically designed for the after-school audience. Programs are offered as single classes or in a series of 6 to 8 programs.

All programs are one hour in length.

Offered to schools in a 10-mile radius around the Museum

After-School Programs

• Astronomy for Beginners
• Animal Adaptations
• Coastal Ecology (May - November)
• Desert Communities
• Dinosaurs
• Floating and Sinking
• Fossils: Clues in the Rocks
• Insects
• Kite Making
• Light and Pigment
• Recycling Paper
• Skeletons!
• Geology Rocks
• Woodland Indian Life

For more information on Brucemobile Outreach Programs, please contact Sheean Haley, Manager of Outreach Education, at 203.869.6786, ext. 323, or shaley@brucemuseum.org.

To make a reservation for a Brucemobile Outreach Program, please call Anne Burns at 203.869.6786, ext. 338 or click on How to Schedule.