Welcome to Our New Program and Gallery Manager, Sara!

Sara Driskell has started her training as our new Program and gallery Manager! She worked as a Gallery Assistant at VDM in 2005, so she is well acquainted with us! Sara worked as a Leadership Services Assistant with the United Way in Santa Barbara and is excited to be back in Virginia! Welcome, Sara! We look forward to seeing your great ideas come to life in your programs!

Be sure to vote for us!

Chase Community Giving votes need to be in by December 11th!



Thanks! VDM

Special Music & Movement Program: The Dreamtime Project

We had such a special treat last Friday when The Dreamtime Project came for Music & Movement! Jim Gagnon entertained us, enlightened us, educated us, and amazed us with his many musical talents! Thank you so much Jim and The Dreamtime Project! Jim’s presentation took us all over the world with stories, songs and instruments from Australia, West Africa, and even here in America! Some instruments we got to see and hear were the Didgeridoo, Native American Flutes, and Drums from West Africa! They all sounded completely different, but we liked them all! All of the Museum’s guests were able to touch and play some of the exotic instruments as well as make music with Jim! Thanks again to The Dreamtime Project and we look forward to your next program! If you are interested in finding out more about The Dreamtime Project, check out their website at www.dreamtime project.com.

Holiday Wreath Sale - DEADLINE FRIDAY 11/20!!

Did you know the Virginia Discovery Museum sells holiday wreaths? Did you know our annual wreath sale is an important fundraising project for the Museum? In addition to being a convenient way to send gifts to friends, family, clients, or business associates, this sale is an important source of revenue for the work we do with children and families.

As part of our commitment to quality, we work with a cottage industry in Maine which creates fresh balsam fir wreaths. Send us your gift list and we take care of the rest. Wreaths can be sent to ANY location in the continental United States. Shipping & handling are included! We also offer discounts for Museum members and those purchasing more than 10 wreaths. You may also choose a pre- or post-Thanksgiving delivery schedule.

$40.75 ($38.50 for members) includes boxing, shipping, taxes, as well as a hand-signed gift card.

Compare! They don't include shipping:
Pottery Barn = $49.99
LL Bean - $55.00
Plow & Hearth - $59.95
Williams-Sonoma - $99.00

$10 PER WREATH IS A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TO VDM.

For Order Forms:

• Download at Virginia Discovery Museum website
• Stop by the Museum, East End of the Downtown Mall, Charlottesville
• Call (434) 977-1025, ext. 9

Celebrate the season and at the same time support the Museum's programs for children and their families

Ordering Deadline:
Friday, November 20

Election Day! November 3, 2009

Yesterday was Election Day and at the Virginia Discovery Museum, your vote matters!

On May 7, 2010 The Museum will be celebrating its 20th anniversary here on the Downtown Mall with birthday cake! What kind of cake should we get? This was the question kids were voting on yesterday. Their choices were:

• Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing
• White Cake with Chocolate Icing
• White Cake with White Icing

Which one would you have voted for? We had 52 children use their right to vote and the winner (by far) was chocolate with chocolate with 31 votes!

Be sure to join us on Friday, May 7th from 3:00 – 4:00 pm for our birthday celebration!

Check Out Our NEW Back Gallery Exhibition!

Freedom of Expression is open! Our new back gallery exhibit has several stations where you can express yourself in all kinds of ways! Protest with your own picket sign, give a speech on a soap-box, create your own t-shirt slogan, express yourself through music and instruments, or dance! Don’t forget about media – you can be on TV, write a headlining news article, or watch Arthur learn the lesson of free-speech! You can also learn how to express yourself through sign language or Braille.

Thank you to our sponsor The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression for all of your help, support, and assistance!

Freedom of Expression is open until January 10, 2010. Be sure to come check it out!

Halloween Party 2009!

We had a terrific Halloween Party this last Friday. Over 60 party guests joined in the fun with face painting, cookie decorating, story telling, games, crafts and more! The creepy feel area was a huge hit as well as the spooky tattoos. Thank you to all of our volunteers, the Junior League of Charlottesville, and our helpful staff – we could not have had such an amazing party without your help!

What a cute pirate playing the Flip-Flop Organ!

That looks like a yummy cookie!

Inside the Kaleidoscope

Love the face painting!

Witch Hat Ring Toss

Gallery Volunteer Kara and our UIP Intern, Jenny are getting ready for the party!

Spooky Mini-Golf

Holiday Wreath Sale - Buy a wreath, help the Museum!

(picture of actual wreath - 22" diameter)

Did you know the Virginia Discovery Museum sells holiday wreaths? Did you know our annual wreath sale is an important fundraising project for the Museum? In addition to being a convenient way to send gifts to friends, family, clients, or business associates, this sale is an important source of revenue for the work we do with children and families.

As part of our commitment to quality, we work with a cottage industry in Maine which creates fresh balsam fir wreaths. Send us your gift list and we take care of the rest. Wreaths can be sent to ANY location in the continental United States. Shipping & handling are included! We also offer discounts for Museum members and those purchasing more than 10 wreaths. You may also choose a pre- or post-Thanksgiving delivery schedule.

$40.75 ($38.50 for members) includes boxing, shipping, taxes, as well as a hand-signed gift card.

Compare! They don't include shipping:
Pottery Barn = $49.99
LL Bean - $55.00
Plow & Hearth - $59.95
Williams-Sonoma - $99.00

$10 PER WREATH IS A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TO VDM.

For Order Forms:

• Download at Virginia Discovery Museum website
• Stop by the Museum, East End of the Downtown Mall, Charlottesville
• Call (434) 977-1025, ext. 9

Celebrate the season and at the same time support the Museum's programs for children and their families

Ordering Deadline:
Friday, November 20

Dino - Ramma, Summer Mini Camp!

The first 2 weeks of Dino-Ramma have been a blast here at the Virginia Discovery Museum! We had over twenty 4-6 year olds enjoing all sorts of dinosaur games and activites! The favorite, by far, has been the Plaster of Paris and sand fossil! They turned out great and the kids had a wonderful time making them!

We have learned so much about dinosaurs, including what they ate, where they lived, and why they died.

Here is a video of our dinosaur parade through the Museum! Check out our awesome T-Rex masks!

Dragons & Dynasties: Discovering Ancient China

We just finished 2 of our 3 summer mini-camps about Ancient China! The kids in these camps have enjoyed activites, crafts and games which taught them about aspects of life in Ancient China. By far, the most popular activity was the Dragon Parade which we took through the Museum's galleries as a demonstration of New Year's celebrations. Not far behind was kite making and flying - because the kite was invented in China, along with several other items like dominoes, sunglasses, bells, and much more!

These kids are great cooks as well! We made fried rice one day and learned to use chop sticks! (Its was pretty hard!) We learned about the Great Wall of China and re-built it out of recycled materials!

We would like to extend a big thanks to the Oyster House in Charlottesville, VA for showing some Chinese antiques to the children and explaining all about them!

Here are some pictures of children enjoying this awesome summer camp!

Get FREE Music!

For FREE downloads of music from the 2009 Discoveroo Family Music Festival, go to www.monkeyclaus.org/discoveroo. We are pleased to be joining forces with local music business Monkeyclaus to further our commitments to the community. While Monkeyclaus is providing the free music downloads, VDM is offering fabulous programming including summer camps! Swing into the Museum and visit both of us on the web!

Find us on the web at http://www.vadm.org/ or become a fan on facebook by searching Virginia Discovery Museum.

Kids On Stage, Summer Mini-Camp

Our first Mini-Camp of the 2009 summer was a great success! Kids On Stage was attended by 12 wonderful 4-6 year olds. They worked very hard on all aspects of a play. We started by learning what a theatre is and about different terms used in theatre. We had a tour of the Paramount Theater and got to go back stage to see the dressing rooms, orchestra pit, and wings. Then, we walked across the stage!

The children painted their own back drop for the setting of the play, made their costumes and some of the props. We practiced lines and blocking for two days and on day three, our audience came to view the kids' hard work!

It was a wonderful performance! Good job and congratulations to the members of the cast for Kids On Stage, session I!

If you are interested in signing your child up for a summer mini-camp at the Virginia Discovery Musuem, go to our website, pick a camp, call to check availability, and send in your check today!

Four Corners of the World - New Back Gallery Exhibition

Four Corners of the World
May 9 - September 13, 2009

Behold wonders of the natural world as you travel through four unique environments; the rain forest, the desert, the arctic and the ocean. Each corner has fun and educational hands-on activities for children to enteract with. In the rain forest try to find all the forest creatures hidden in the trees, in the desert make a fossil rubbing or go on a safari in the kid-sized Jeep, in the arctic pretend to be a penquin as you slide down the iceburg, and in the ocean count all the animals you see in the coral reef! There are many other activities to do as well, like dressing up as animals from all four habitats and reading books about each different area.

We hope to see you soon!

Sponsored by Peace Frogs and the David Greenewalt Charitable Trust

The results are in!

The weather was perfect for running and spirits were high at Monticello High School track on Saturday, May 23rd for the Virginia Discovery Museum’s 19th annual Discovery Dash! We had 543 participants from 56 area schools, and over 60 trophies were awarded!


Our top 3 fundraisers were:
Nathan Scott $106
Keegan Scott $105
Joseph Van Storch $100

Congratulations to all of you and thank you for all your efforts!


A warm and grateful thank you to our sponsors as well!
SNL Financial
Charlottesville Albemarle Airport
The Lollipop Shop
UVa Children’s Hospital
Allied Concrete
Splendora’s Gelato
Volvo of Charlottesville
First Systems and Resources
Bob’s Wheel Alignment
The Little Gym
Charlottesville Track Club
Ragged Mountain Running Shop
Rivanna Gear and Apparel
WINA

19th Annual Discovery Dash Results are posted online at www.vadm.org.

Let's Go Green!

Monday, May 25th, Memorial Day, the Museum hosted “Let’s Go Green!”, the last Me at the Museum program for the 2008-2009 school year. Six children ages 3-7 participated in this fun and educational program which centered on ways for children to help the environment at home and in the community.

Some of the projects the children made included an egg carton caterpillar, which taught them to reuse materials in their house, a canvas tote bag to take to the grocery store or library, and a worksheet on how to pack an eco-friendly lunch with reusable containers, water bottle, silverware and napkin. A trash sorting game was played in which everyone learned how to tell what is recyclable, and we went on a nature walk to Lee Park and pointed out all the plants that were helping the atmosphere. We also discussed the way cars hurt the atmosphere and the importance of using other forms of transportation.

The Virginia Discovery Museum offers several Me at the Museum programs throughout the year on Teacher Work Days, Professional Development Days, and other days when the schools are closed. Pre-registration is required for these programs and you can register at the Museum’s front desk or by calling 434-977-1025 and asking for Michelle Staller or Kelly Smith. Registration fees are $25 members/ $30 non-members and the classes last from 9 am – 12 pm.

New Summer Hours and Summer Mini-Camps

Starting Tuesday, June 9th, the Virginia Discovery Museum is changing its hours for the summer. Tuesday through Saturdays from June 9th - August 21st we will be opening an hour earlier at 9 am! We will see you then!

Do not miss our awesome Summer Mini-Camps, 9 - 12 pm, Mondays through Wednesdays, this June and July! You can register by calling the Museum at (434) 977-1025, X9 and asking for Michelle. Fees are $80 for members/$100 for non-members and include all materials and snacks for the three days.

June 8-10: Kids On Stage, 4-6 year olds
June 15-17: Kids On Stage, 4-6 year olds
June 22-24: Dragons and Dynasties: Discover Ancient China, 6-8 years olds
June 29 - July 1: Dragons and Dynasties: Discover Ancient China, 4-6 year olds
July 6-8: Dragons and Dynasties: Discover Ancient China, 4-6 year olds
July 13-15: Dino-Rama, 4-6 year olds
July 20-22: Dino-Rama, 4-6 year olds
July 27-29: Dino-Rama, 6-8 year olds

We hope you register today!

Volunteer Appreciation Party, 2009

We had a great evening at the annual Volunteer Appreciation Party on Sunday, April 5, at the Museum. Fifty-two people attended and enjoyed a wonderful buffet dinner and entertainment by local musician Greg Howard on the Chapman Stick. The Museum Board contributed a delicious cake for dessert.

Attendees went home with lots of goodies – door prizes, contest prizes, and thank you gifts. We also honored ten volunteers who contributed over 100 hours in 2008. They are: Holly Connell, Susan Demas, Lionel Fernandez, Judy Goetz, Carol Hendrix, Priscilla Lepsch, Kay Moore, Jacquie Pickering, Jocelyn Saunders, and Runa Zaman. Every year volunteers donate about 5000 hours to the Museum – we couldn’t do what we do without their dedication, hard work, and support!

If you are intersted in volunteering at the Virginia Discovery Museum, contact Margie Rein for more information, (434)977-1025 X9 or vol@vadm.org.

The Discovery Dash

May 23rd will be the 19th annual Discovery Dash at Monticello High School's track! Be sure to register your child today! Come by the Museum to pick up a registration form. Call Brett at 434-977-1025 x4 with questions.

"What is the Dash?" you ask. Well, the Discovery Dash is a series of races for kids ages 3-12 and their families. It started 19 years ago with a small group of runners on the downtown mall and has since grown to over 400 runners! The Monticello High School Track is now home to the Dash which welcomes over 1000 attendees. It's quite the event!

As well as the individual races, there is also the Discovery Cup School Relay. This event is very popular among the schools of Charlottesville and surrounding areas. The teams are made up of 4 students (6, 7, 8, and 9 years old) that run 1/4 mile each. The winning team takes home the coveted Discovery Cup and $200 for their school to use on new sporting equipment! The second and third place teams receive $100 and $50 prizes respectively. We hope to see you there!

This year's event is sponsored by the following

SNL Financial
UVA Children's Hospital
Charlottesville Albemarle Airport
The Lollipop Shop
Volvo of Charlottesville
Allied Concrete
First Systems
Splendora's
Charlottesville Track Club
The Little Gym
Bob's Wheel Alignment