School Programs

NEW! Maine and the China Trade

Learn about the role of Maine in the nineteenth century trade with China by viewing artifacts and images brought back by Maine sea captains. Porcelain, textiles and clothing, furniture, lacquerware, paintings, flags, and other items were souvenirs given to captains’ families and friends. Maine’s role as a premier shipbuilding site that supplied merchants from other cities with large vessels will be explored. Learn about Maine families that were as much at home in Hong Kong as in Maine. Participate in themed activities, including unwinding silk worm cocoons, painting silk cloth, coloring images of Rose Medallion export porcelain, and making your own tea bags. This activity may be accompanied by Chinese legends and stories, historic photography, and some Chinese history.

Past, Present and Future

At the Penobscot Marine Museum there's a lot to discover about Maine, it's coastal waterways, maritime life, and so much more. Our history isn't just in the past but continues to unfold and evolve. That's what our Museum offers; Past, Present and Future!

We offer many exciting programs for all ages and our library is available to assist those seeking to learn all there is that this rich and historic area of Maine provides. The Museum offers maritime education programs for students of all ages, including school groups, and Elderhostel.

Programs for Children

Penobscot Marine Museum presents
Interactive Maritime Programs for Children

All programs can be tailored for grades 1 through 5. Learning Results are provided. All materials are included. They usually require about one hour. Contact Betty Schopmeyer, Education Director, for more information and scheduling.

Dandyfunk Detectives

Where did nineteenth century Maine merchant ships sail? Who was aboard? What jobs did they do? What did they eat? We’ll see some photos of ships, their crew members, and the captain and his family, including pets. Then we turn to the subject of food: How do we know what people ate aboard vessels 100 or more years ago? One way might be to see what ship masters purchased from stores before going to sea. The group will examine copies of store account book pages from the museum’s manuscript collection, and look for purchases of dandyfunk ingredients, such as molasses and flour. After we play detective (really beginning research) we will make some dandyfunk of our own!


When is a Ship Not a Ship?

Maine was an important shipbuilding center in the nineteenth century, as it still is today. In the days of merchant sail, when all types of large wooden ships were constructed on the Maine coast, people all knew what made a bark different from a brig, and a ship different from a schooner. We start this lesson with samples of shipbuilding woods for observation and comparison. The group then participates in creating a story about the sequence of building a vessel, matching pictures to story lines read aloud. Together we assemble the hull of a wooden vessel and learn the parts. Finally, we play a group game to learn the different types of rigging that made some vessels ships and others not.


Sailors’ Valentines

Learn about the history of Sailors’ Valentines, how they got to Maine, and the trade routes involved. Learn about people’s love of natural materials for decor in the 19th century. Practice patterning and design elements as you create your own Sailors’ Valentine with a variety of tropical shells on an octagon-shaped base. Use pictures of real captains and their wives as your centerpiece, and learn something about their lives.


The Softer Side of Fishing

Fishing communities depended on whole families, not just the fishermen themselves. See our replica Fishermen’s mittens, made by the wife of a smelt fisherman from Winterport, Maine. Make your own felted mittens using fleece and a large mitten shaped cookie cutter. Learn about an award winning quilt made by the Island Fishermen’s Wives. Try your hand at duplicating the quilt using wooden pieces and a magnet board. For young groups, we may read The Mitten, by Jan Bret, and play games with wooden replicas of Maine woods animals.


The First People in Maine

Learn about Native American tribes in Maine, their culture, and where they lived. Read a Native legend, A Little Boy Catches a Whale, written in French, English, and MicMac. Gain an appreciation for current efforts to preserve Native languages. A variety of hands-on projects may be incorporated, including clay pottery, birch bark canoes, and wigwams. This activity may incorporate the giant map, or may be done on its own.


Sardines!

Learn about the herring industry in Maine, how sardines are made, and what is happening now in this once extensive fishery. Hear the story of the JACOB PIKE, Penobscot Marine Museum’s 83-foot sardine carrier, and see historic photographs. Read the story Arlene Sardine and play a sardine packing game!


Lighthouses

Learn locations of lighthouses on the Maine coast and islands. Find out how they helped mariners. Read one of many lighthouse stories, then make model lighthouses of your own to take home. This activity may be done with the giant map (see below) or separately.


Introduction to the Compass

Learn to use a compass and the names of the cardinal and inter-cardinal points.

Discuss the difference between a real compass and a compass rose pictured on a map. Play Simon Says using eight compass points. As a hands-on project create a compass rose to take home.


My! What a Big Map You Have!

The giant map is a 17 foot by 5 foot vinyl schematic map of the Penobscot River up to Old Town and Penobscot Bay down to Matinicus. Because it has no markings, it can support a variety of activities by using different “props.” Children participate in creating a story by populating the map while sitting around it on the floor.

Examples of Interactive Stories using the Giant Map

History of the Fisheries in Maine: Using the map and props, children help trace fishing in Maine from the pre-contact times when Native people fished from canoes, through the days of industrial pollution and technology that allowed overfishing. Story props include Native canoes, explorer ships, natural resources (trees, fish, fur), fishing sloops, draggers, factories and more people. We end with a discussion of what people are doing to help.

Where are We? What is All Around Us? Using the map, we learn about names of geographic landmarks, fresh and salt water, how rivers flow and create watersheds, the animals of Maine’s woods, Maine’s mountains, and different kinds of natural resources. Hands-on projects may include making mountains, creating porcupines, making a watershed model, or trying experiments with salt and freshwater.

School Programs

School groups are invited to visit the Museum or arrange a classroom presentation. We offer a variety of topics, or modules, that may be tailored for students in all grades. The Museum has aligned its presentations with the Maine State Learning Results for maximum benefit to students and teachers.

School programs may be scheduled on-or off-site throughout the year. Elderhostel groups spend a week learning while sailing the Maine coast. Call the Education Department at 548-2529 or email us.

The Maine State Learning Results and museum resources have been integrated into a guide for teachers: M.A.T.E.S. Addressing Maine’s Learning Results Using the Collections of Penobscot Marine Museum This 140-page book is now in print. It outlines the scope of information within each of nine topics, lists relevant Performance Indicators for each grade grouping for each topic, suggests pre-teaching and follow-up activities, and provides resource lists. Download the M.A.T.E.S. guidebook.

The museum offers a dedicated education website containing the information in M.A.T.E.S., as well as narrative content, a searchable image database, an illustrated glossary, and the journal of a 16 year old Belfast boy who sailed to California in 1866. Visit Penobscot Bay History Online learn more.