Partnership ready to talk ice and winter with students
The Forum, Chieftains Museum and ECO Center are combining a chance to ice skate with lessons about hibernation and Cherokee farming.
The Forum River Center, Chieftains Museum and Rome-Floyd ECO River Education Center are partnering to offer students a unique ice experience this fall.
The three venues are putting together a package to bring students to the arena for ice skating, followed by lessons in local history and nature that will focus on the winter months.
A portable ice rink will be at the arena from Nov. 9 through Dec. 29, but students are only in school for about half of that time during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
The package will begin with a half hour of skating time, followed by an hour at Chieftains Museum, a lunch and then another hour at the ECO River Education Center.
Thomas Kislat, marketing specialist for the Forum River Center, said that having the ice rink in Rome was going to be so unique he felt combining ice skating with lessons related to history and nature would be a great opportunity for all three venues to expose children to things in Rome they might not know as much about.
While students are at the arena, Kislat said the students will learn about ice and how the Zamboni that skims the ice works.
Kamil McElwee from Chieftains Museum said lessons at Chieftains would focus on how the Cherokee saved agricultural products during the winter months along with the influence of Moravian missionaries who brought Christianity to the natives. Children will learn about Moravian candlemaking skills as well.
“We have a curriculum packet that teachers can choose different activities based on what they are learning in the classroom at the time,” McElwee said.
The ECO Center will offer lessons related to how animals adapt to winter with an emphasis on the process of hibernation. “That’s not something we normally spend a lot of time talking about so this will be a cool way to integrate the theme,” said wildlife educator Emma Wells.
Kislat estimates the program will be able to accommodate about 150-160 students a day for about three weeks. Teachers who may be interested in participating in the ICE Experience should contact Kislat at the Forum at 706-314-0719.