Back to School at the Thrasher-Horne Center

Miss Nelson is Missing
November 10, 2015

Upcoming School Time Shows

The 2015-2016 school year is officially underway and the Thrasher-Horne Center has several excellent educational events coming up which will be fun and engaging for students. Since the Thrasher-Horne Center opened in 2004, over 50,000 students have attended school time performances. With a beautiful state-of-the-art facility and a courteous and helpful staff, the Thrasher-Horne Center is the perfect destination for educational field trips.

School time performances are open to all schools and home school groups.  Tickets for groups of less than twelve and for people who are not attending with a school are also available. Most of the Thrasher-Horne Center’s school time performances feature study guides for teachers to use in the classroom before and after the performances. They are available on the Thrasher-Horne Center website. 

The National Education Association recently published a newsletter article on How Field Trips Boost Students’ Lifelong Success. In the article, Carylann Assante, executive director for Student & Youth Travel Association, said, “Today's students are visual learners and a field trip lets them see and listen to what they’re learning about, build on classroom instruction, gain a better understanding of topics, build cultural understanding and tolerance, and exposes them to worlds outside their own.”

Ms. Assante had the following suggestions for planning a successful field trip.

• Look around your region for nearby trips. There are lots of inexpensive things teachers can do that will have a phenomenal impact.
• Follow protocol. Teachers need to review their school's policies on field trips in advance and prepare the forms with specific learning objectives and how the field trip will accomplish those objectives.
• Involve the students. Discuss the goals of the field trip in advance, talk about what they will see and what they should learn.
• Make trips relevant. Base your field trips on your content area. Focus on how the trip fits into your content or another educational goal.
• Follow up. Students are much more likely to write about an experience they recently had, like a field trip. Have them write about their favorite artifact or activity on the field.

Here are some of the exciting educational events coming up at the Thrasher-Horne Center through February, 2016. 

Click Clack Moo

Wednesday, September 30 at 10:15 AM

Grades K-4

Curriculum Standards: Communication and Language Arts, Literature-Based, Music, Social Studies

Based on the Caldecott Honor Book by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin, Click Clack Moo is a delightful musical about negotiation and compromise, important skills that students will be able to use as they grow up.

"Udderly fabulous! Given Theatreworks USA's track record of turning classic kids' lit into magical musicals, CLICK, CLACK, MOO just reaffirms their reputation." Raven Snook, Time Out New York Kids

 

The Dinosaur Diary of Dr. T-Rex

Tuesday, October 6 at 10:15 AM

Grades K-8

Curriculum Standards: Fossils, Extinctions, Paleontology, Plate Tectonics, Geological Time Periods, Adaptation, Predator, Carnivore, Herbivore

The Dinosaur Diary of Dr. T-Rex is an interactive presentation which will help students discover the amazing world of dinosaurs while they develop their reading and writing skills. Students will be using their senses as they watch, hear, and touch realistic dinosaur puppets and museum quality fossils.

The BFG (Big Friendly Giant)

Friday, October 23 at 10:15 AM

Grades 1-6

Curriculum Standards: Literature

In the Big Friendly Giant (BFG), students will learn that heroes can come in all sizes. With a young orphan called “human bean”, the BFG embarks on an epic - and humorous -  quest to save England. The late Roald Dahl was the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and BFG was one of his personal favorite stories. 

Miss Nelson Is Missing

Tuesday, November 10 at 10:15 AM

Grades K-5

Curriculum Standards: Communication and Language Arts, Literature, Music

Although Miss Nelson was as sweet as could be, the students in her class were unruly. One  day a strict substitute named Miss Viola Swamp showed up. The students began to appreciate just how nice Miss Nelson was.  This fun  musical from Two Beans Productions will teach students about the importance of being kind.

A Light in the Dark: The Story of Helen Keller
Thodos Dance Company

 

Wednesday, January 27 at 10:15 AM

Grades 1-6

Thodos Dance Chicago presents its critically-acclaimed story ballet, A Light in the Dark: the story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan,  as part of its 2016 touring program. Although Helen Keller was deaf and blind, she became a world famous writer and political activist. The story of how Anne Sullivan guided Helen  Keller on the path to educational and intellectual fulfillment is one of the most inspiring stories about the power of education in the history of the United States. Thodos Dance Company is presenting this performance at Thrasher-Horne Center as part of the Dance Touring Initiative program.  This grant program is provided in part by South Arts, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

For 23 years, Thodos Dance Chicago has performed with captivating style described as “breathtakingly athletic” and “powerfully beautiful.” The company’s dedication to the American voice in contemporary dance has established TDC as an innovative presence in the modern dance landscape. Reaching young minds through dance education is vital to the mission of Thodos Dance Chicago. As an established teaching company, all members of the ensemble hold B.A. and M.F.A. degrees in dance and teach at the elementary, high school, and university levels.

 “A Light in the Dark is a wonderful and original show involving Anne teaching Helen how to communicate and showing her that there was a whole world to learn about and experience that she did not know.” Jennifer Lunz, L.A. Splash.

Let’s Go Science

Friday, February 26 at 10:15 AM

Grades K-7

Curriculum Standards: Science Concepts

Professor Smart and Dr. Knowitall join forces for an educational, entertaining, exciting and experiential extravaganza. Professor Smart demonstrates the principals of physics while  his comedic sidekick Dr. Knowitall keeps the facts straight. Your students will learn science concepts through impressive and memorable demonstrations!                     

School group reservations are now available! If you’re a teacher, start planning  a class field trip to the Thrasher-Horne Center today.  Tickets for groups of 12 or more are $10.00 each.  For every twelve paid admissions, one complimentary ticket will be provided. Tickets are also available to groups of less than twelve and to the general public. Payment due no later than one month before each performance. Call the Thrasher-Horne Box Office at (904) 276-6815 to reserve your seats today!

Spread the word about one of Northeast Florida’s best kept secrets! Tell your family and friends about the Thrasher-Horne Center. Share this article with them. They will appreciate learning about what they have been missing. We appreciate you taking the time to visit us. If you have a comment about this article, leave it in the comment section below. 

In this article, I’ve outlined the educational benefits of field trips for students and provided tips on how to go about planning a successful field trip. I’ve also provided summaries of upcoming opportunities for field trips to the Thrasher-Horne Center. These presentations will be engaging for students and they will fulfill a variety of curriculum requirements.

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