Brooklyn Children’s Museum and our Plant Observations Tanya Lopez Katherine Festagallo Kristi Hoag

Tanya’s Plant

What Tanya did for her plant As I filled the cup with soil I added about 6 seeds clumped up together and I added about a handful of water. The cup was also placed outside the window and I noticed that for about a week nothing was happening. I checked the soil and the soil was frozen. Since the soil was frozen I decided to change the whole thing. I added new soil to a plastic cup and I added about 4 seeds but I spread them out. I added only two table spoons of water and left it near the window for direct sunlight. After 4 days I noticed Tiny sprouts. By week one there was one sprout with leaves. By week two and three two more sprouts came up with leaves and by week four a new one had sprouted but not as much as the rest of the seeds.

Kat’s Plant

What Kat did for her plant Week One: put 5 seeds, watered once a day, kept by the window, it snowed or was very cloudy, nothing grew. Week Two: watered every two days, some days were kind of sunny. I assumed the plant to be dead, nothing grew. Week Three: first three days of the week, didn't water, still thought plant was dead. Fourth day, saw a little sprout fifth day watered and seventh day watered. Week Four: watered every other day, still kept by window but was sunny outside-plant is growing.

Kristi’s Plant

What Kristi did for her plant Throughout the past few weeks, I have been trying to grow a plant from a seed in a plastic cup. It's been really hard to grow. In the beginning, I gave it lots of water, added only 3 seeds and put it by the window so it would get plenty of sun. There was a couple of weeks where it snowed and rained a lot, and it wasn't very sunny outside. That could be a huge reason why the plant didn't grow much. As the weeks went along, I didn't give it as much water as I did in the beginning. There were also days were it was nice and sunny out, but still the plant would not grow. I thought it was dead for a while, but then one day it started to grow a little bit more and I knew it was still alive. It's still going strong, and I hope it continues to grow.

Our Plant Similarities: Little sunlight- more sunlight as the weather became better. Too much water at first. Used basil seeds. Four weeks of growth. Tanya’s Differences in Planting Placed her plant outside. Added too many seeds to the soil. Growth occurred four days after. Restarted plant & used 4 seeds instead of 6. Kristi’s Differences Kristi added 3 seeds Placed it near her window Watered plenty everyday Kat’s Differences Kat used 5 seeds. Watered every two days didn't water on week 3. After 3rd week watered every other day

Virtual Museum

Virtual Trip Experience The virtual site very informative on the museum, giving information about each specific exhibit, school programs, parties, and other information such as contacts, donations, and visiting information. As we looked through the exhibits with the pictures and information online, it doesn't compare to the actual on site trip. Not all the exhibits have information on the hands on activities, and some don't show enough pictures. They do show some specific information on exhibits, like the Garden and Con Edison Greenhouse, which provides background information and plenty of pictures on the activities to do, and being respectful towards plants, and Totally Tots for children under five years old. Exhibits such as World Brooklyn, and the Sensory Room, provided more words but no or limited pictures to show what the exhibits looked like. Nonetheless, just by looking at the virtual site, it would definitely be a place we would take our future children, even if we didn't visit it previously to witness all the magic.

Brooklyn History The Brooklyn Children's Museum, which was founded in 1899, and was the first museum to be designed especially for children to do all kinds of hands on activities. It's the only children's museum in New York City, and also one of the few in the country. This museum inspired the making of 300 more museums for children all around the world. The hands on exhibits and use of all its collections, it engages children from pre k all the way to high school in learning experiences. The museum encourages children to develop a sense of understanding and respect for themselves, others, and the world around them by exploring culture, the arts, sciences, and the environment.

Brooklyn Children’s Museum On Site Trip!

Part One *Water Wonders was a great hands- on activity where you can discover different creatures that may live in the ocean. *There was a sand box, a water tank that had waves with toy sea creatures. *A wooden boat with pirate hats and paddles were available for children to go inside and “discover” the life of a pirate at sea.

Part Two *The "From Here to There" exhibit had many fun activities to show how things moved by land, sea, and air, while learning about the laws of motion, gravity, and friction. *We launched a colorful hot air balloon by turning up the heat and watched the hot air balloon grow and rise up. We moved boats from one water levels to the next by operating the canal lock system. *Also, we even sent colored balls through air tubes from one place to another in a rushing channel of air. The balls zoomed from that station to a station on the other side of the room.

Part Three *The World Brooklyn exhibit was great, because it was a cityscape of different ethnic stores for children. *Also, we went to the stationary store and tried the Chinese calligraphy, went inside the traditional lion costume to make it move and dance, and built a lantern out of red envelopes. *We went to the Mexican bakery and played with the giant mixer, weighed ingredients, shaped the pretend dough. *We went to the L&B Spumoni Gardens Restaurant, and made play pizzas, spumoni ice cream, and tuned up the Vespa parked outside.