Tuesdays with Tuvol

Sea Glass. Where is it from? How is it made? We are going to find this out right now.

Sea glass is made from glass bottles that are broken in the ocean. They could be dropped from a boat or ship. They break up on the reef and rocks. As the sand wears down the sharp edges, they become smooth. We find them on the beach because the ocean current pushes them into the shore line.

Sea glass is wonderful and curious. Some people make jewelery out of them. I just like to collect them. Sea glass comes in all different colors. Blue, red, green, or my favorite - orange. You can find most of these colors on the west side of our beaches. I hope to collect a bunch more.

Museum Day

Museum Day is today. There were programs from 10:00am until 2:00. For Grand Turk, the weather was very bad, overcast and rainy.

Only nine children came, but those who came had a great time.

When I asked one of them how it was going, he said, "Me and these kids are in Heaven."

Nothing like one-on-one staff attention!

The highlight of the event was the box slide that we built in the stair well of the science building. This was part of a very elaborate "wrecking" hunt that Aliatte designed.

Though there were not huge "numbers" at the event today. I think for the people who were here it was phenomenal.

Tuesdays with Tuvol

This Tuesday I would like to thank all of the cruise ships that came to our beautiful and peaceful island, Grand Turk, through the month of November 2009. Thanks to Liberty, Destiny and Miracle. Thank you from Tuesdays with Tuvol.

I just found out that I will be leading a museum tour for the Museum Day Children's program this Saturday. I don't know how this is going to go, but you will have to stay tuned to find out.

Tuesdays with Tuvol

School on Grand Turk is a lot like everywhere. You either love it, or you hate it. I hate it. It is too hot! Because of the hurricane last year, I go to class in a shipping container that has been renovated into a classroom. It is air conditioned, but it smells like feet.

The only thing good about school is that I do very well. This week I got a 90% on my math test. I was so happy that I showed up at the museum and banged on the door. The first thing I said was, “I got a 90% on my math test!”

My favorite thing this summer was the Children's Club at the museum. We went kayaking, and snorkeling, and took a bus ride up to North Wells to see the ruins of the Bermudian wells. I had never been kayaking before. It was kind of scary, but not nearly as scary as snorkeling. Believe it or not, I learned to swim this summer at Children's Club. I have been practicing at the pool in Margarittaville. Next year I will be ready.

But for now...SCHOOL!

Tuesdays with Tuvol

My name is Tuvol Higgs. I am 12 years old and counting. I attended the after school program throughout from November to March. The after school program at the National Museum in Grand Turk was a blast. I did all of my homework and played a little… well a lot… with my good friends Neal and Dinah. They helped and enjoyed helping other children but I was special – cause I’m Tuvol. No offense to anyone else.

After the program ended, I began visiting the museum offices and helping out. I use the museum internet to do more homework, even though the program has finished. If anyone is reading this from Pine Cay, please send another grant so other children can do homework too, because homework gives us 30% of our mark sheet grade.

Visiting the museum, I began to give tours to cruise ship visitors and met some friends along the way. The tours are fun because I can talk about the Turks and Caicos and teach some stuff.
Now I am going to write a blog. I hope you will read it often. Thank you and enjoy Tuesday’s With Tuvol!

Eliza Simons Primary

The six grade classes from the Eliza Simons Primary School came the museum today for a field trip.

Aliatte Michel, the director of children's programing gave a guided tour of the Molasses Reef Wreck, which is the oldest ship to ever be discovered in the Western Hemisphere.

The kids were able to see some artifacts on exhibit that can only be seen in a few places in the world. They were able to appreciate how important the collections are in their own museum. Here, the kids are looking at a model of a maritime archaeological dive site. This part of the exhibit explains how artifacts are recovered from a wreck which is 60 feet under water. Most of them were glad they did not have to dive down into the water that far!

August Program was a Blast

In August, the Turks and Caicos National Museum made a smashing success of the 2009 Summer Children’s Club program on Grand Turk. The club met every Tuesday afternoon for a day of cultural activities and field trips. The program was as much fun for the adults who attend as it was for the children.

Our first activity was a tour of historic Waterloo, the Governor’s residence. Guided by Mrs. Rosemary Wetherell, the club learned about the history of the residence and what it is like to live in the house. Dr. Neal Hitch, the director of the National Museum pointed similarities to Bermudian and colonial American architecture. The club participants also learned how to “read” a cannon with Mr. Sherlin Williams, who talked about the ceremonial filed piece on the porch of the house.

When the tour was over, the club continued on to Oasis Divers for a swim lesson and a snorkeling trip the BioRock, an artificial reef constructed by the DECR. The importance of protecting and preserving the reefs and coral of the TCI was discussed by Jodi Johnson. The short boat trip was followed by a beach BBQ.

The following Tuesday was a very exciting club trip on board the GT Land Adventures nature tour bus. One of the best tour guides on the island, Rudolth Francis, entertained the club by touring around Grand Turk seeing sites typically visited by cruise ship passengers.
“We learned about the island wildlife, had a chance to see some flamingoes that were located on the West Road ponds, and then we were lucky enough to save a small potcake that had fallen into a well at the historic North Wells site,” commented Aliatte Michele, the program coordinator. “Our one hour tour quickly turned into a three hours that was one of the most fun activities we have ever done as a club.”

Our last Tuesday was spent at North Creek kayaking around the different types of mangroves with the staff of Oasis Divers. It is said that the mangroves in the Turks and Caicos Islands are the most important habitat because it is the fish nursery that supplies our reefs. The club learned to identify the different types of mangrove trees and viewed the various types of sea creatures that live around the mangroves.

On the fourth and final excursion of the August program, the club spent the day aboard the Carnival Liberty cruise ship while it was in port at the Grand Turk Cruise Center. Both children and adults were captivated by a full tour of the ship. This was followed by a bountiful lunch on the Lido deck where we behaved as polite guests, but ate more than usual. After lunch the club had access to the onboard pools and water slide, which provided a great way to work off the bowls and bowls of ice cream.

The day aboard the cruise ship was one of the best Children’s Club events ever. The Museum would like to say a big thank you to the now past director of the cruise center, Mike Reimers, who was always a friend to the museum, and who went out of his way during his last week in the TCI to see that we had not just a good time, but a BEST time.

Dr. Hitch sums up the program like this, “this summer we had the best Children’s Club ever and this is owed to the remarkable tour businesses on Grand Turk, our fun filled staff, and mostly the children themselves.”

Welcome to the Club

This is the introductory blog for the Turks and Caicos National Museum Children's Club blog.

Who knows what is going to happen here. There are lots of possibilities....

You will just have keep checking back to see.

Neal V. Hitch
Director, Turks and Caicos National Museum