AKRON, Ohio -- The GAR Foundation has announced a $1.2 million investment to provide every Akron Public Schools student in pre-K through fifth-grade with an experience outside the classroom at Northeast Ohio cultural and historical institutions including the Akron Art Museum, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens.

GAR Foundation President Christine Mayer and Senior Vice President Kirsten Toth announced the “Essential Experiences” program on Thursday afternoon during Akron Superintendent David James’ State of the Schools address at The Tangier.

“Think of Essential Experiences as a field study rather than just a field trip,” Toth said. “These experiences are unlike any traditional field trip; they don’t end when the students get on the bus back to school. Each experience has enriched curriculum that connects the experience to classroom learning.”

Pre-K students will be involved in a 15-week arts and music program by ArtSparks called “Ready, Spark, Kindergarten,” to foster kindergarten readiness skills through rhyming and dance. The program culminates with a live classroom showcase with parent audiences.

Every first-grade student will participate in a two-part experience with the Akron Zoo “Animal Encounters,” in which the Akron ZooMobile will visit every first-grade classroom to enable students to interact with living and nonliving things in a controlled environment. The program will expand students’ understanding of their impact on the ecosystem. All first-graders will then travel to the zoo for a guided tour to observe habitats and learn how zoologists develop healthy and thriving ecosystems for each organism.

The second-graders will visit the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to use clues, their knowledge of fossils, research about extinct animals and observation and deduction skills to investigate what the world was like in prehistoric times. Back in the classroom, students will complete activities that identify the types of careers that study prehistoric life and their ecosystems to round out the “Fossils to Fur” experience.

Each third-grade student will learn about entrepreneurship through the “Market and Me” experience at Hale Farm and Village. Students will learn the history of the market system during the 1800s and explore how economic principals have changed over time. Students will bring those foundational concepts to reality by pitching their own business plans and gaining exposure to modern-day entrepreneurs.

Every fourth-grader will have to work individually and collaboratively to solve the “Mystery at the Museum,” an unfinished graphic arts novel, at the Akron Art Museum. Students will use clues embedded in the museum’s art collection to solve the mystery. They will also have an opportunity to publish their own graphic-arts novel via the Akron Art Museum.

Fifth-grade students will advance their geography and history knowledge by visiting Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. Students will “Meet the Staff” from the organization’s past by taking on the identity of an immigrant in the 1920s and learning why they came to Akron. They will learn how the migrants managed daily life in their new country and strengthened the city of Akron. Back in the classroom, students will apply what they learned to modern-day immigration.

The key experience for kindergarteners - a visit to the planetarium at Firestone High School - is already being implemented by Akron Public Schools and is not formally included in the new initiative.

The “Essential Experiences” series provides high-quality experiential learning and draws from research supporting the value of co-curricular experiences, the GAR Foundation said in a news release.

“We are witnessing, again today, the very evolution of education at Akron Public Schools,” Superintendent James said. “GAR Foundation’s considerable contribution with Essential Experiences fits our model of giving students more real-life experiences and real connections to the community and world.”

The GAR Foundation, along with the school district’s learning specialists, convened the cultural and historical organizations to create educational programming specifically designed for students in the district. Each experience includes specific pre- and post-activities, college and career targets and elements of advanced technology.

While the full program is set to be implemented this fall, a group of students will participate in a pilot program this spring.

“We’re running into a lot of school testing weeks this spring so we had to work around those schedules,” GAR Foundation spokeswoman Dina Younis said. “Also, having a pilot group experience the program first gives us a chance to pause near the end of the school year in May to reflect on what worked and what can be improved before the full roll out in the fall.”

About 8,800 students will participate each year.

“Every student deserves the opportunity to be intellectually challenged in a real-world, authentic learning environment,” Toth said. “Collectively, we will ensure all kids get the same high-quality experiences that spark curiosity and nurture learning.”

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