Penguin project by South Portland second graders inspires new Children's Museum exhibit‏

Portland, Maine - Last April, Chris Sullivan, Exhibits Director at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, received a large manila envelope from Skillin Elementary School. Inside he found a stack of handwritten letters from every student in Diana Violette’s second grade classroom asking him to build a live penguin exhibit here in Portland. Each letter offered a persuasive argument for the exhibit, and several suggested specific species and even offered tips for overcoming potential challenges. All were accompanied by colorful illustrations and diagrams.

 

The letters were written as part of an assignment given to the class by Amber Lane, a student teacher from University of New England. They were so convincing that Sullivan was compelled to respond to them publicly. While the Museum & Theatre was not able to build a penguin habitat, they have opened Penguins in Portland, an exhibition of the students’ letters and illustrations alongside penguin photographs by Brian Sullivan.

 

“I was inspired by these drawings,” says Chris Sullivan. “The ingenuity is amazing. They were troubleshooting everything! They wanted to help us figure out things like feeding and water filtration. This assignment got them thinking creatively, anticipating challenges and figuring out how to overcome them. It’s the kind of problem-solving that creates big-picture thinkers.”

 

Chris contacted his uncle, Brian Sullivan, a Connecticut-based photographer who travels around the world documenting endangered animals. Brian was happy to offer the use of pictures from his current project: an attempt to document all 20 known species of penguins. The species featured in this exhibit’s photographs were all referenced in the students’ impressively well-researched letters: King Penguin, Rock Hopper, Chinstrap, Gentoo, and the endangered Galapagos Penguins.

 

Skillin Elementary School’s third grade class (which includes the then-second-graders behind the project), second grade teachers, principal Lucretia Bagley and former student teacher Amber Lane will visit the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine on Monday, October 22 from 1:15-2:15pm to see the final exhibit. The exhibit will be on display in the Museum & Theatre’s front stairwell gallery through November 12th.