hy is education so integral to the mission of Boston Children’s Museum? Ginny Zanger, Ed.D., Museum vice president and director of the Museum’s Center for Community Learning Resources (formerly known as the Teacher Leadership Center), likes to answer the question with what she calls a little-known fact: The Museum was founded by Boston Public School teachers in 1913. Their goal was to introduce the city’s children to objects from the natural world, thus providing an opportunity for hands-on learning. “Over 90 years later, we are still following that legacy and tradition,” says Zanger.

The Museum’s support for teachers and classroom programs begins before kindergarten, an important educational and developmental milestone. Boston Children’s Museum, Boston Public Schools, and more than 26 other organizations have partnered to create Countdown to Kindergarten, a city-wide effort to support the transition into kindergarten, says Jeri Robinson, Ed.D., Museum vice president of early childhood and family learning.“Kindergarten is something that will happen to every single family with a four or five year old, no matter what the community,” Robinson says. “Everyone has a story to tell about going to school for the first time. Our participation in Countdown is helping kids learn more about the world they live in and experience.”

The annual Countdown to Kindergarten celebration, held before the first day of school, always attracts thousands of incoming Boston Public School kindergartners and their families for an afternoon of games, activities, and fun. The children in bright yellow “I’m going to kindergarten”
t-shirts and their parents have a chance to climb on a real school bus, grab healthy snacks, sign up for library cards, and get last-minute school questions answered. Countdown to Kindergarten booklets and DVDs are available in six languages, from Haitian Creole to Vietnamese, providing information on registration, school readiness, and transportation.

Beyond kindergarten, Boston Children’s Museum provides classrooms and after-school programs with learning activities through the resources and professional development of the Center for Community Learning Resources. Last year, the Museum sent out 940 Museum Teaching Kits, reaching 22,500 children in 286 schools and after-school programs. The Museum also offers interdisciplinary enrichment activities for after-school educators; one-day professional development seminars; waterfront learning projects; institutes on multicultural oral traditions, storytelling, and literacy; and more. A new summer institute called Multicultural Storytelling, Oral Traditions, and Literacy, which highlighted four cultural traditions, attracted more than 30 teachers. The Center also piloted a new relationship with a family literacy program, the Otis Family School, to serve immigrant families learning English. “We make education come alive through experiential learning,” says Zanger of the Center for Community Learning Resources.“We help teachers engage kids in social studies, the sciences, and environmental education—areas where the museum has deep content background.”

The recent expansion and renovation of Boston Children’s Museum has made the programs of the Center for Community Learning Resources and Countdown to Kindergarten more accessible and effective than ever before, says Zanger. “The bottom line for us is to bridge the gap between schools, afterschools and the Museum and help our institution respond to teachers’ needs as well as offer exhibits and programs that strengthen what kids are learning.”