Wright Brothers

This week we have taken a break from Colonial America to visit Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers.  The highlight of the week was attending the Wright Brothers Show at the Air and Space Museum and touring the museum. 

To prepare for our fieldtrip, wechecked out a few books from our library.  I was thrilled to find First flight : the story of Tom Tate and the Wright Brothers because Froggy could read it all by herself.  It is written from the perspective of Tom Tate, a young boy native to Kitty Hawke who meets the Wright Brothers.  It is written as a story but is based in fact without any obvious falsehoods like the Magic Treehouse books have. We also got The Wright Brothers which traces their progress from first inspiration through all the various interations.  Froggy was quite taken with both books and read them herself as well as requesting them several times.

The museum also has an online program appropriate for Froggy's age range which let us learn the parts of an airplane by helping Wilbur and Orville assemble a flyer.

We started our day with the show which was amazing. It was a puppet show but it was also a musical.  There was one song which was a great learning tool explaining the three elements, Lift, Power and Control,  that the Wright Brothers need to balance in order to make a successful flight
We then proceed into the museum itself which is hosting a special Wright Borthers Exhibition.   There were docents set up as we exited the show to take us on a guided tour.  We got to see the original Wright Brother's flyer from only inches away. They have a dummy where the pilot sat so you can see how it was actually flown.  All the parts are original except the fabic, 1 propeller and part of the engine.  I am not sure how much Froggy got out of that but I was fascinated.  She was pleased to be able to see and identify the parts that she had played with on the computer.

We also some early gliders that proceeded the Wright Brothers and I explained the difference between a glider and a plane. 

Comments

  1. We have been wanting to get Selena to the Air and Space Museum near us. This post just makes me want to do it like tomorrow. Thank you for linking up.

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  2. I like the way you prepared for the field trip.

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  3. I remember visiting Kitty Hawk as a child. One of my most favorite family trips!

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