A Visit to Jeff Matthew's Museum

On a Friday after school field trip, Galax Middle School students visited the Jeff Matthews Museum. This museum, located in Galax, next door to the public library, is a hidden gem full of wild game displays, Native American artifacts, and local memorabilia. The kids set out on a treasure hunt within the museum as a means to find some of the unique items found there.

Spending a few hours searching for various items on their lists and finding even more interesting things on their own, they decided to make a new treasure hunt for future visitors to the museum. After touring both floors of the museum, we moved outside to explore the historic buildings also found on the property and enjoyed a snack at the picnic tables just outside the door. Next years students are in for quite a hunt!

Stars, Planets and More!

In keeping with the mission of BRDC to inspire curiosity and discovery, 12 students from Galax Middle school traveled to Winston Salem to visit the new Kaleideum North, formerly SciWorks. Kaleideum’s Planetarium was an excellent extension to the astronomy study for November. After viewing a show about stars and planets, they spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the museum.

Physics, puzzles, natural history, health and music exhibits that filled the museum both entertained and challenged the students to think critically and explore hands-on. They ventured outside and viewed the otter and raccoon in their habitat and took turns whispering across a courtyard to see if they could be heard in the sound garden.

This was a great opportunity for the kids to get out of the classroom and expand their educational experience. Learning can be fun and it was evident in all our faces.