EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Educating Our Community

The Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park provides field trips and other educational opportunities for preschoolers through adults, including a winter lecture series, interactive exhibits, and more. In order to cultivate lifelong environmental literacy, education efforts must begin at an early age and provide a continuum of experiences that cultivate future environmental stewards. Our education programs take place at both our Park Campus and our Museum Campus, as well as off-site. Learn more about our different programs and join us for fun at the links below.

AMM Summer Camp Fish Education

School Programs

On Campus Programs

Bring your class to Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park for a day of discovery with one of our school programs. We offer hands-on, inquiry-based education programs that foster positive outdoor experiences and encourage critical thinking.

On The Water Programs

Set sail aboard AMM’s floating classroom to dredge for oysters and experience what life was like living on the water in the 1800s. Test water quality above an oyster reef and see what biodiversity lives below in this immersive, STEM-based program!

In School Programs

From fins to legs, discover the various body parts that animals need to survive. Engage with fishy friends and see how they are different from each other and us as well as what makes them the same. Students will meet and touch two live animals.

20221101_153730(0)

Club Chesapeake

Club Chesapeake is an afterschool program where students engage in hands-on activities to discover the animals and culture of the Bay. Programs are taught by the AMM Education Team. We bring the Bay to you!

Parents & Family Programs

School's Out Camp

We pack each day with nature exploration, hands-on environmental education, and FUN! At AMM, children can explore our beautiful Park Campus with friends new and old, investigate local animals, play games, make arts and crafts, and so much more! Open to K-5th grade students.

Summer Camp

Summer camp allows children to play and wonder as they explore the world around them with friends, old and new! Campers will get their hands wet and feet muddy while exploring our 12-acre Park campus with wooded trails, a secluded cove, and marsh habitat on the shores of Back Creek.

Kids Birthday Parties

Looking for a fun AND educational spot for your child’s next birthday party? Join the Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park for a Birthday on the Bay! Explore the nature trails and secluded shoreline of our Park Campus during our adventure-filled parties.

Scouts Programs

Looking for a fun and hands-on way to fulfill badge requirements? Bring your scouts to AMM! Programs include outdoor exploration, hands-on activities, experiments, and skill development. Your scout group can participate in a program designed specifically to meet badge requirements or choose to partake in one of our family or school programs.

Grant Funded Programs

Little Skipjacks

AMM supports lifelong environmental literacy, which starts at a young age. Little Skipjacks is an in-school outreach program that focuses on early learning and reaches every public Pre-K classroom in the City of Annapolis as well as other Title I Pre-K classrooms in Anne Arundel County and Head Start programs in Anne Arundel and Baltimore County.

In this hour-long outreach program for Pre-K students, students are introduced to a variety of animals that make their home on an oyster reef, such as small fish, shrimp, and crabs. Staff members read How the Oysters Saved the Bay and introduce what an oyster is by passing around oyster shells and encouraging sensory exploration. After describing the look, feel, and even smell of their oyster shells, students work together to build an oyster reef. Educators then introduce each live critter before passing specimens of that animal around. Students are encouraged to touch and explore each animal, making observations and pointing out differences between them. Each Little Skipjacks session wraps up with a silly song about an oyster. Little Skipjacks is supported by PNC Grow Up Great.

Chesapeake Champions

Through the year-long Chesapeake Champions program, second grade students examine their connection to the Chesapeake Bay through the lens of science, social studies, and art. Students are involved with growing and planting native Bay species to restore these plants on the museum’s Living Shoreline. AMM sees every student three times during this program and works with the entire second-grade class at Annapolis, Eastport, Hillsmere, and Riviera Beach Elementary Schools. This program is supported in part by these generous sponsors:

Oyster Education Program (OEP)

Through the Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park’s Oyster Education Program (OEP), the Education Center sees every 6th grader from six area middle schools (Annapolis, Bates, MacArthur, Magothy River, Meade, and Severn River Middle Schools). Students participate in two winter outreach sessions in their classroom that include building a model oyster, dissecting an oyster to observe its anatomy, and interviewing a local Chesapeake Bay waterman, Captain John VanAlstine. Students then attend a spring field trip to one of AMM’s campuses and take a boat ride to a local oyster reef. This program focuses on the oyster to illustrate biological, ecological, and cultural concepts to meet environmental literacy standards. Students are involved in a restoration project where they plant baby oysters (spat) on a local sanctuary oyster reef. OEP is sponsored in part by the Arundel Community Development Services, Arlington Echo Outdoor School, and Watermark Cruises.

From East to West, Our Watershed's the Best!

The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE), in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and supported by the U.S. Department of Education, has awarded $2.35 million to 29 environmental education organizations, including the Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park (AMM). These organizations partner with NOAA to provide enriching out-of-school watershed-related STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) projects to local 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) sites and their students, many of whom live in high-poverty and underserved areas. Learn about the full program here: https://naaee.org/our-work/programs/eeblue/21CCLC.

The “From East to West, Our Watershed’s the Best!” program works with students participating in afterschool programming provided through Partnering for Youth (PFY) Project A to Z at three Queen Anne’s County Public elementary schools (QACPS). This partnership between QACPS and the AMM serves to bridge the gap between Maryland’s Eastern and Western Shore, both defined by hundreds of miles of Chesapeake Bay shoreline and both taking active interest and roles in restoring the health of the Bay. Through this project, students see how their actions on land impact their local waterways and how those waterways connect to and affect the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed. By better understanding the broader impact of their actions, students are inspired to take positive steps to improve the health of their watershed. These experiences inform and inspire student-led action projects.

Box of Rain (BOR)

The AMM/BOR Summer Maritime Program introduces children living in Annapolis public and subsidized housing to a variety of maritime experiences, including sailing, kayaking, fishing and environmental lessons.

Want to support our education programs?

Visit our Amazon Wishlist to donate needed materials. Choose our address at checkout to have it shipped directly to us.

Meet Our Educators

Gail Hutchinson, Education Program Director

Gail Hutchinson

Education Program Coordinator

Chelsea Grandinetti the Lead educator for the Annapolis Maritime Museum in Maryland

Chelsea Grandinetti

Lead Educator

Kirsten Barbera is the School Program Manager for the Annapolis Maritime Museum

Kirsten Barbera

School Program Manager

Marco Rojas the Community Program Manager for the Annapolis Maritime Museum

Marco Rojas

Community Program Manager

Susan Sanger the Enrichment Program Manager for the Annapolis Maritime Museum

Susan Sanger

Enrichment Program Manager