PROJECT CHRONOLOGY

August, 1996
East Side School was notified that they had recieved The Museum in the Classroom grant. Everyone was very excited.

September, 1996
We traveled to Mt. Vernon, Illinois, for our introduction to The Museum in the Classroom. Last years MIC participants presented their projects.

October, 1996
We took the school van and traveled to Springfield, Illinois, for a two day training session. At this time we met with other MIC participants from throughout the state and our museum partners, American Center of Archeology. Most important of all we received all of our equipment and had an opportunity to play around with it. We used the digital camera to take pictures of various places in Springfield.

November, 1996
Harrisburg, Illinois, hosted a two day training session on using the equipment and software. We took four children and they were trained to create object and panorama videos. After returning to school the children continued practicing with the software. Also, we journeyed to Kampsville, Illinios, to meet with our museum partners and to receive an introduction to archeology. We took a tour of the area to see the Indian Mounds. Kampsville was a culture shock to some.

December, 1996
The children began researching Prehistoric Indians of Southern Illinois.

January, 1997
Michele and Kristen, archeologist from Kampsville, came to East Side Elementary and presented an overview of archeology to all third and fourth graders in our school. The children in our classrooms enjoyed working with the Cultural Boxes to discover the different prehistoric time periods. After their visit the students started an e-mail correspondence with the archeologist at Kampsville. The students began using the internet for research.

February, 1997
We made a HyperStudio presentation about the MIC project to the Rotary Club. The students continued their research. 

March, 1997
Students continued research on Late Woodland Indians. Classes began previewing different home pages made by other classes. Right before Easter vacation the students made an object video of disappearing Easter candy.

April, 1997
Students finished up research and began typing up their reports. A local historian came to East Side to share his Prehistoric Indian artifact collection. We took six students on a two day field trip to Kampsville, Illinois. Students and chaperones enjoyed flintknapping, pottery making, eco hike, and home construction. The children especially enjoyed sitting around the campfire and listening to the archeologist tell Indian stories.

May, 1997
We started creating East Side Elementary's home page. An archeologist from the Shawnee National Forest came to school and did a slide show presentation on the dig at the Pounds Hollow site. Then we went to John A. Logan College for more indepth training on object videos. We took classes on a field trip to Cahokia Mounds. A student's uncle brought his Prehistoric Indian artifacts to share with the class. Finally, the students had a great time doing a mock dig on our school playground.

June, 1997
Last week of school we took the classes on a field trip to Mill Stone Bluff to see the remains of a prehistoric stonefort, petroglyphs, and the depressions left from a Mississippian Indian village. School is out and we are looking forward to working with the archeologist at Kampsville next year.