Archive for the ‘Red Ball Express’ Category
The Red Ball Express is The National WWII’s Museum local educational outreach program, delivering dynamic, hands-on learning to classrooms, community events and audiences throughout the Greater New Orleans area. Though school was out this summer, the Red Ball Express continued to roll, bringing its lively blend of fun, age-appropriate education to local libraries as part of the yearly Summer Reading program.
Designed to keep children and young people excited and reading throughout the summer break, Summer Reading offers free presentations and activities, all based around a central theme. This summer’s theme was ‘Dig Into Reading.’ To tie-in to this theme, the Red Ball Express presented a program based on Victory Gardening and all the many different ways children and young people contributed to the War Effort. Program participants learned about rationing, took part in a mock scrap drive and were sent home with decorated seed packets to start their own gardens.
From May through August, the Red Ball Express traveled to all 10 library branches in St. Tammany Parish and all 12 main library branches in Orleans Parish as part of the Summer Reading program.
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- Taking a look at propaganda posters
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- Scrapping Magic! Image courtesy of Times-Picayune
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- Handling a WWII parachute
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- Seeds for her own Victory Garden
With summer reading finished and school back in session, the Red Ball Express is gearing up for another season back out on the road and another season of bringing hands-on WWII education to classrooms across the Greater New Orleans area.
Click here for more information on how you can bring the Red Ball Express to your classroom or event.
Post by Collin Makamson, Family Programs & Outreach Coordinator @ The National WWII Museum
This week, twenty high school students from New Orleans’ Grow Dat Youth Farm visited the Museum’s on-site Victory Garden. Grow Dat is a non-profit educational program in which teens from five local high schools plant, grow and harvest their own produce on a four-acre farm located in the heart of New Orleans’ City Park. The members of Grow Dat visited the Museum’s Victory Garden to learn about the roots of urban farming and the parallels that exist between Victory Gardening in WWII and today’s local and organic food movements. During WWII, there were more than 20 million Victory Gardens planted across the United States – roughly one Victory Garden for every seven people. Even though Grow Dat does not call itself a Victory Garden, it shares the same mission: to produce healthy food for the local community.
To learn more about Victory Gardens in WWII, visit the Classroom Victory Garden Project.
This post by Collin Makamson, Red Ball Express Coordinator @ The National WWII Museum
The Red Ball Express is The National WWII Museum’s mobile educational outreach program, delivering hands-on, interactive learning across the greater New Orleans region. Last week, it was the Red Ball Express’ privilege to visit Metairie Park Country Day School and present its elementary-age program to six classes of 3rd and 4th-grade students. In the elementary-age program entitled THE SEEDS OF VICTORY, participants learn about what students their own age were doing during the Second World War. Activities and hands-on explorations include a scrapping magic show, a trip to the grocery store using ration points and stamps and analysis and examination of WWII propaganda posters.
The culminating activity in THE SEEDS OF VICTORY sees students working in teams to transform themselves into living propaganda posters through the use of artifact and costume pieces as their classmates attempt to decipher the meaning behind the words and images of each poster.
All Red Ball Express programs contain both pre and post-visit enrichment activities in order to extend the learning experience. The students and teachers at Country Day took advantage of this by creating some WWII propaganda posters of their own, showing off both their artistic abilities and understanding of the lesson’s content.
The Red Ball Express rolls to schools and community groups within a 60-mile radius of New Orleans all year round. Click here for more information on Red Ball Express programs and how to bring the Red Ball Express to your school or community group.
This post by Collin Makamson, Red Ball Express Coordinator @ The National WWII Museum
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Since 1984, July has been the month designated to celebrate one of the nation’s most popular summertime treats: ice cream! The climax of the frozen festivities is set each year for the third Sunday of the month and this year the Soda Shop at The National WWII Museum joined in by helping visitors beat the heat with one dollar scoops of ice cream (I recommend the butter pecan). This tasty discount brought in over $300 in sales of ice cream alone; all proceeds benefiting the Museum’s mobile outreach program, the Red Ball Express, which delivers dynamic, hands-on WWII learning to area schools and community groups. The funds raised on National Ice Cream Day will provide six free Red Ball Express programs to greater New Orleans area educators. Thank you to all visitors who helped to make National Ice Cream Day at The National WWII Museum such a sweet success.
Learn more about how to bring the Red Ball Express to your school or community group
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This post by Collin Makamson, Red Ball Express Coordinator.
The National WWII Museum’s Red Ball Express brought a special set of hands-on activities to the Louisiana Bicentennial Family Homecoming Celebration in Baton Rouge. The Louisiana Bicentennial Celebration brought together representatives from all 5 regions of the state: Greater New Orleans, Sportsman’s Paradise in North Louisiana, Cajun Country in Southern Louisiana, Crossroads in Central Louisiana, and Plantation Country along the Mississippi River. Louisiana’s diverse food, music, and culture were on display throughout the State Capitol Grounds with each region showcasing its specialty.
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Stationed in the shadow of the Louisiana Capitol, the Red Ball Express brought WWII artifacts, photo booths, and coloring sheets to provide exploratory learning for all those who came to celebrate 200 years of Louisiana statehood. Students from across Louisiana were able to explore artifacts such as a 70-year-old can of emergency drinking water, a WWII Navy life belt, and a Civil Defense helmet. The photo booths were a hit with people of all ages as festival-goers dressed up as either a Tuskegee Airman or Rosie the Riveter and starred in their own propaganda posters.
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With the school year winding down, The National WWII Museum is proud to announce that its Red Ball Express mobile outreach program is gearing up for another busy summer season, delivering hands-on, educational fun for all ages to day camps, scout troops, libraries and community centers across the greater New Orleans region all summer long. Book a visit from the Red Ball Express today by calling 504-528-1944, ext. 304 or emailing collin.makamson@nationalww2museum.org.
