Follow the Drinking Gourd: A Boonshoft Museum Fieldtrip

On Friday, February 13, third graders from HSA-DE had the privilege of visiting the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery for a FREE field trip thank to Target.  Ms. Amstutz wrote and was awarded a Target Field Trip grant so that her students could learn more about how slaves used stars and songs to help them migrate north on the Underground Railroad.

Students were introduced to the story Follow the Drinking Gourd at the beginning of our "Cause and Effect" Interdisciplinary Unit.  The slave's fight for freedom anchored this unit as a hook for student engagement about citizenship's participation in government.  You can enjoy the story below:

Once we arrived at the Boonshoft Museum, students were walked to the planetarium to learn more about the stars and the slave's journey northward.  For most students, this was their first planetarium experience.

As the show began, students got a glimpse of the amazing planets in our solar system which are some of the first lights we see in the night sky.

From there, we began to "Follow the Drinking Gourd".

 

As the song played, students clapped along, thoroughly enjoying the story...

From there, we learned how the Underground Railroad was active in our very own state and even areas around Dayton:

After we learned about the Underground Railroad and how the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" helped slaves migrate northward by giving them clues in the stars and hinting at landforms and landmarks along the way, we learned more about stars.  We learned that the "drinking gourd" is actually the Big Dipper.

The Little Dipper is part of another constellation called "Ursa Minor"
or the Smaller Bear.

The Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major or Large Bear.

We also learned about the constellations Orion and Taurus:

Finally, our planetarium presentation took us on to up-close view of the planet Saturn:

We were then treated to a roller coaster ride in outer space as the grand finale of our program.  Just listen to the students laugh, giggle, and scream!  So much fun!

After our planetarium program ended, students were able to explore the museum exhibits.

Marion, Ra'Jhay, Cayla, Adriana, Jayda, Karissa, James,
and Abubakr learned about desert ecosystems.

Abubakr and Adriana met a burrowing owl.

James, Marion, Abubakr, Karissa, Ra'Jhay and Adriana spent some time
working on the truck.