Inventors Musuem

Each year in first grade we did an inventors musuem. I loved doing this and so did the kids. It sounds a little crazy but it really wasnt! Each student would choose an inventor to learn about. We would have them choose one we were not learning about in class. They would have to do some research on this inventor at home. This is were you will have to decide what is best for your age group and classroom. This can be as basic as who the inventor was, what they invented and when they inveneted it. Depending on your class' abilities you can also have them tell you about why and how they came up with the invention.  On the day on the musuem I would separate the desk out and put a round sticker on each desk. The sticker was the "on" botton. When someone pushed their sticker they would stand up and share their information with that person. The students did a variety of different things on this day. Some students would just stand and share the information. I have had students dress up as their inventor, create posterboards to display and bring their invention to share. If they did the inventor of Barbie they would have one to show or if they did Hersheys they gave a Hersheys Kiss to each person that came to hear them. The day of the musuem we invited parents to come. The parents could walk freely to each student and listen to the presentation. We usually did the entire grade level in one day and parents could even travel to the other rooms.  The day before we would do a rehearsal and invite second grade to come and hear us. This was always a lot of fun for the kids, teachers, and parents.