Education opportunities?????

[Jodi3530]

I don't know if it would work but you could have your child do a scrapebook and on each page make sure it has what I learned about this on it for example watching the gorillas. You could take pics to use and have your child write something about the gorillas include small report on the scrapebook page, the pics and stickers if wanted and then at least it would be a great keep sake afterwards and not just a punishment. The family could help too.

Or make a scrapebook and have the last two pages be a report on the life of walt and why he started Disney. Make sure to include how important family togetherness was to walt! LOL

 

[tjmw2727]

I may be in the minority but I don't see having a 7th grader do a project while missing school for a vacation as punishment. Every day is an opportunity to learn and I hope that you will help your child find this a fun and interesting opportunity. He/She will take cues from you and its seems as if you think this is a bad idea.

I know that even in 2nd and 4th grades my dd's were expected to keep a journal and do a report as well as all missed work, and they only missed 2 days over a long weekend!

Its easy to incorporate learning into every day life and vacation is no exception. There have been some great suggestions so far and with a little planning and creativity your child will come up with a great project. In fact it may prompt you to see or do some attractions you may not otherwise have done.

I sympathise with the principal, its a difficult job and it seems to me that asking for a project duirng an excused absence is a fair request.

TJ

 

[LisaR]

Originally posted by John Dobbertin
Do go take a look at the site one poster mentioned above. It is extremely interesting: http://disney.go.com/disneyyouthprograms/yes/art.html It will give you ideas for your student's "project-at-WDW" assignment. For instance, the first listing is "The American Story." You could do most of this on your own at the Liberty Square & Frontierland areas at MK. I doubt too many folks have stopped and read the plaque on the Liberty Bell replica. Interesting stuff. Poke around & you can find a lot of material right there! Anyway, all of the courses that are offered are listed -- & unfortunately they are for school groups requiring sign-up six weeks or more in advance. Good luck!

It looks like they offer some awesome programs. I am going to look into setting something up for my students. However, I can't get any of the download links to work right now, including the contact us link. They pop up for a quick second and then I get an error. I'll try again later.

Lisa

 

[Aquagirl]

I am an educator in an aquarium and their school classes sound similar to what we offer. Unfortunately, they are for groups. I have a project idea for you. Sorry that this is so long. PM me if you have any questions. Good Luck

Have your child conduct some research at home about the behavior of one of the animals at Animal Kingdom or Living Seas. Such as the gorillas, tigers, manatees, dolphins. Have them choose a specific behavior and make a prediction about it. Then have them go and record the animal's behavior when you are viewing them. For example, I had to conduct a project when I was in school about dolphin and whale behavior. I decided to study the interaction between the dolphins and the whales. I predicted that the animals would interact more with animals of their own specie rather than with the other specie. I went to the aquarium and observed them a few times.

I was in high school when I did this, but you could make it simpler by having your child observe whether the animals will interact with other animals or if they are stick to themselves or what time of day they are awake or eating, etc. I would observe the animals a few times over your stay, for maybe 15 minutes each time. You may want to observe them at different times of day to see if their behavior differs.

 

[MsLefty]

Since you feel (and rightfully so) that the children in your daughter's school are being punished for taking time off for family vacations, why not do a project that shows why family vacation time is a GOOD thing?

Taking some ideas from this thread, she can interview random families (those standing in line behind you, or sitting directly to her left, etc). Ask them things like where they're from, their children's ages. If their children are school aged, did they take them out of school for THIS trip. If so, did they have to do a project during their trip?

Then she can report on things she learned at Disney that she never would have known had she not visited. I'm sure she can learn things about the animals, other cultures, history, etc. She can keep a list with her and write down everything she DIDN'T already know that is not specifically Disney related.

She can wear a pedometer to show how much excercise she got while travelling around the parks.

Finally, she can relate why this trip was important to her, in regards to spending time with her family.

Show the principal that families can make responsible choices when deciding to pull their childran from school for a family vacation.

I'm sure if you decide to go this route, you'll get lots of other suggestions.

Good luck!

 

[LisaR]

Originally posted by MsLefty
why not do a project that shows why family vacation time is a GOOD thing?

Taking some ideas from this thread, she can interview random families (those standing in line behind you, or sitting directly to her left, etc). Ask them things like where they're from, their children's ages. If their children are school aged, did they take them out of school for THIS trip. If so, did they have to do a project during their trip?
Finally, she can relate why this trip was important to her, in regards to spending time with her family.

Show the principal that families can make responsible choices when deciding to pull their childran from school for a family vacation.
Good luck!

I LOVE this idea. Maybe she could ask the kids that she interviews why this trip was important to them, what they have learned while on vacation, what did they like doing the most with their families, etc. She could really have a lot of fun with this and really make a point to the principal at the same time. Of course, I am kind of evil like that! lol

Lisa

 

[kylara]

You could also do something on Innovations. There are more than just games in those areas.

To me the educational opportunities are just endless at WDW. You can do projects on just about any of the Pavilions at Epcot. AK has a number of educational opportunites and a trip over to the conservation station could give her some great information. My sister and one of the biologists there got into a great conversation (sis has her Master's in biology) about how they work with the animals....my niece really listened in and realized that my sisters job in biology wasn't "boring"...although niece did try and talk my sister into applying at WDW. As someone already pointed out, architecture is another area that can be carried over in all the parks.

If you can find one of the behind the scenes type books, you would have a lot of different information. I know they have one out on the Haunted Mansions that compares all of them and the movie and talk about the entire history of them.

Another idea is a pictorial of the parks. If you DD likes photography, this might be a good way to put a project together. Maybe work it into a history of WDW.

Good luck with the project. I think the most important thing is to make if a fun project so that your daughter doesn't look at it as a chore that needs to be done while on vacation.

Oh and a second vote for the suggestion that someone already made about how the different culture celebrate Christmas that they do in Epcot..with the Santas around the world.

 

[DisMN]

Originally posted by tjmw2727
I may be in the minority but I don't see having a 7th grader do a project while missing school for a vacation as punishment. Every day is an opportunity to learn and I hope that you will help your child find this a fun and interesting opportunity. He/She will take cues from you and its seems as if you think this is a bad idea.

I know that even in 2nd and 4th grades my dd's were expected to keep a journal and do a report as well as all missed work, and they only missed 2 days over a long weekend!

Its easy to incorporate learning into every day life and vacation is no exception. There have been some great suggestions so far and with a little planning and creativity your child will come up with a great project. In fact it may prompt you to see or do some attractions you may not otherwise have done.

I sympathise with the principal, its a difficult job and it seems to me that asking for a project duirng an excused absence is a fair request.

TJ

I agree. Even though it was never required by the school, we tried to make each adventure to Disneyworld a learning experience....to the benefit of each of us. I learned things right along with my daughter/granddaughter! When our granddaughter was pre-kindergarten, we went to Epcot and talked about the different languages represented in each of the countries, and we asked the CM's to write her name in their native language. You're never too young or too old to learn new stuff and Disneyworld offers some fantastic opportunities.

I LOVE the idea about the physics of the rides and doing research in that area. Wow.....thanks for a lot of other great suggestions in this thread!

 

[kadaten]

A website just for you!

Educational Projects at WDW

 

[shellybaxter]

I think it's great that the principal at the OP's school allows a make up assignment, as opposed to a policy that simply says missing school is not allowed period. I love all of the ideas that have been mentioned here and hopefully will be able to use some of them when Dniece is a little older. I think any trip taken with children can and should be a learning expirience The child will learn more from having and expirience and then processing and writing about the it than if they simply expirienced it.

Shelly