Children's Museum of Oak Ridge Archives

Government shutdown affects National Park Service in Oak Ridge

Posted at 7:59 pm January 11, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The partial government shutdown that started three weeks ago has affected the National Park Service in Oak Ridge. There are no National Park Service staff members or volunteers working at the Park Service desk at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, as pictured above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The partial government shutdown that started three weeks ago has affected the National Park Service in Oak Ridge.

There are no National Park Service staff members or volunteers working at the Park Service desk at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The Park Service left maps and brochures for visitors to pick up at the museum, but there is no one there to give a certain type of stamp that visitors can use to log visits to national parks.

A sign on the National Park Service desk on Friday said “Closed until further notice,” with a simple sketch of a frowning face underneath it.

Oak Ridge is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Established about three years ago, the park commemorates the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Besides Oak Ridge, the park includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. [Read more…]

NOAA building in Oak Ridge closed due to government shutdown

Posted at 3:29 pm January 11, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The NOAA building on South Illinois Avenue, shown above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, has a sign posted on the front door announcing that it is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building in Oak Ridge is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government, which is now three weeks old and approaching a record length.

NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is one of nine cabinet-level departments affected by the partial government shutdown. The shutdown, which mostly hinges on a dispute between President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress over whether to allocate $5.7 billion in funding for a wall on the border with Mexico, also affects the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the federal judiciary, and other related government programs.

About 380,000 workers were to be sent home and not be paid for their time off during the shutdown, the New York Times reported. Another 420,000 deemed too essential to be furloughed are being forced to work without pay, the newspaper said. After past shutdowns, such workers have been reimbursed later.

It wasn’t immediately clear Friday afternoon how many NOAA workers in Oak Ridge, part of an air research laboratory that has a division here, have been furloughed and how many, if any, are being forced to work without pay. A sign posted on the front door announced that the building is closed due to the shutdown. [Read more…]

Knoxville TV stations offer unique experiences for Children’s Museum Gala Auction

Posted at 3:56 pm November 29, 2018
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

Frank Murpjy, of WNOX radio, will emcee the Children’s Museum Gala Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. (Submitted photo)

Celebrate Oak Ridge’s 75th birthday at Children’s Museum Gala

Knoxville’s three local TV stations are offering opportunities to shadow a meteorologist, be a news anchor in a mock news cast, and tour a haunted mansion, as auction experiences up for bid during a Gala on Friday at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The Children’s Museum is hosting its 17th annual Gala, a museum benefit with the theme “Oak Ridge at 75: A Night of Nostalgia,” at 6 p.m. Friday at the Museum, 461 West Outer Drive.

Guests will have a chance to bid on an exclusive offer to shadow WBIR-TV Todd Howell, the station’s chief meteorologist since 1996, for a day.

At WVLT-TV, after a station tour and catered lunch with news anchors Ted Hall or Amanda Hara, or both, the winning bidder will read actual news scripts on the news set with anchors during a mock news cast that will be recorded and sent to the winner. [Read more…]

Flat top house to move to Children’s Museum on Tuesday

Posted at 9:47 am October 16, 2018
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

The historic flat top house that has been at the American Museum of Science and Energy for about a decade will be moved to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The flat top house move from the American Museum of Science and Energy to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, October 16. The move was delayed earlier this month due to heavy rains.

The move is expected to begin at AMSE about 9:45 a.m. and continue along Illinois Avenue about 10 a.m. Tuesday. Residents along West Outer Drive from Illinois Avenue to the Children’s Museum at 461 West Outer Drive have been notified of the move date and are asked to move cars from the street on Tuesday, a press release said.

The Children’s Museum offered to give the flat top a new home when AMSE, which is re-opening in its new location in Main Street Oak Ridge, announced its move. AMSE’s new location doesn’t have space to keep the flat top as an exhibit, the press release said. The Children’s Museum does have room on its property southeast of the museum building. [Read more…]

Rain delays flat top house move to Children’s Museum

Posted at 1:25 pm October 2, 2018
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

The historic flat top house that has been at the American Museum of Science and Energy for about a decade was scheduled to be moved to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, but the move has been postponed. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Moving the historic flat top house from the American Museum of Science and Energy to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge had been scheduled for today (Tuesday, October 2), but the move has been postponed because of delays in site preparation due to recent heavy rains, a press release said.

The move will be rescheduled for later this month, according to Beth Shea, executive director of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. Residents along West Outer Drive from the Museum to Illinois Avenue will be notified of the move date and asked to move cars from the street on the day of the move, the press release said.

The Children’s Museum offered to give the flat top a new home when AMSE, now closed temporarily as the museum moves to Main Street Oak Ridge, announced its move. Its new location doesn’t have space to keep the flat top as an exhibit. The Children’s Museum does have room on its property southeast of the museum building at 461 West Outer Drive, the press release said. [Read more…]

Historic flat top house moving from AMSE to Children’s Museum

Posted at 12:39 pm September 11, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The historic flat top house that has been at the American Museum of Science and Energy for about a decade will be moved to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, officials said Monday, Sept. 10. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The historic flat top house that has been at the American Museum of Science and Energy for about a decade will be moved to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on October 2, project officials said Monday.

The Children’s Museum kicked off a Go Fund Me campaign for the project on Monday, inviting the community to help raise $25,000 to support the move and preserve and maintain the flat top.

The Children’s Museum said it offered to give the flat top a new home when AMSE announced that it is moving to Main Street Oak Ridge. The former AMSE location on South Tulane Avenue, which had been used for about four decades, closed in late July. The new AMSE location at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall, is expected to open in October. There isn’t enough space to keep the flat top as an exhibit at the new AMSE, a press release said.

But the Children’s Museum does have room for the flat top on its property, the press release said. The flat top will be southeast of the museum building, which is at 461 West Outer Drive in north Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Flat top house at AMSE is moving to new location

Posted at 10:19 am September 7, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

american-museum-of-science-and-energy-front-jan-2-2017-slider

The American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge on Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The flat top house at the American Museum of Science and Energy is moving from its current location on South Tulane Avenue.

The new location hasn’t been announced yet, although an announcement about the move will be made Monday by representatives of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The AMSE location on South Tulane Avenue has been used for more than 40 years. But it closed in late July because the museum is moving to a new location at Main Street Oak Ridge, the 58-acre redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. The new AMSE will be near JCPenney on the northeast side of Main Street Oak Ridge. It is scheduled to open in October. [Read more…]

Weinberg papers preservation project seeks community support

Posted at 2:46 pm August 24, 2018
By Rhonda Bogard Leave a Comment

Weinberg Web Page (Submitted photo)

As the city celebrates its 75th anniversary, the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is soliciting the community’s support to ensure the legacy of a famous Oak Ridger is preserved for posterity.

Alvin Weinberg, a renowned nuclear physicist, worked on the Manhattan Project, became head of the Physics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, then research director, and ultimately the director of the laboratory for 18 years. He donated his personal papers to the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge when Selma Shapiro, the museum’s founder, was serving as its executive director. Now Shapiro’s daughter, Rhonda Bogard, is part of a core team working to permanently preserve the papers.

The goal of the project is to ensure Weinberg’s work and legacy are preserved for future generations, a press release said. Bogard thinks his work speaks for itself. “His work will be remembered for the vision and leadership it symbolizes,” she said. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum offers kids’ healthy living workshop for teachers in August

Posted at 2:33 pm August 24, 2018
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

The Children’s Museum garden at the Kids Go Green Environmental Center gives children the opportunity to grow, harvest, and eat fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit. (Submitted photo)

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is offering teachers of kindergarten through grade 5 the second of two Saturday morning workshops on healthy living and eating for kids on Saturday, August 25. The workshop will bring teachers to the Museum’s Kids in Action! Healthy Living exhibit and to the garden in the Kids Go Green Environmental Center.

The free workshop was offered from 8:30 a.m.-noon on Saturday, August 25, and it is being offered again on Saturday, August 25. Kids in Action and Kids Go Green staff and volunteers will lead the workshops and garden activities. These trainings are approved for in-service credit for teachers in the Oak Ridge school district, a press release said. [Read more…]

Children learn through play at Children’s Museum Imagination Station Summer Camps

Posted at 3:39 pm June 10, 2018
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

Children enjoy making slimy concoctions during Junior Wizarding Summer Camp last year (2017) at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

Children will create art, join the wizarding world, generate some “mess-terpieces,” become gumshoes and chefs, shape designs with clay, delve into science and STEAM, and more during Imagination Station Summer Camps beginning June 4 at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

Summer camps, from June 4-July 27, are for children from age 3 through rising fifth graders. The Children’s Museum’s enriching environment provides the backdrop as an experienced staff helps campers learn and grow through play in fun and safe surroundings, a press release said. Each camp is created with age-appropriate activities aligned with the child’s developmental stage.

“We hope to foster campers’ imaginations and passion for lifelong learning through our wide range of themes and activities, as well as our many hands-on exhibits,” said Beth Shea, Children’s Museum executive director.

The fee for Monday-Friday half-day camps is $115 for members, lower fees this year, and $135 for non-members. A discount is available if two siblings register for camp during the same week or if a child registers for two half-day camps in the same week. A limited number of scholarships for camp are available. Download the scholarship application from the museum’s website. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum offers free teachers workshop on May 5 & 19

Posted at 11:05 am May 4, 2018
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is offering teachers of kindergarten through fifth grade a Saturday morning workshop on healthy living and eating for kids. The workshop will bring teachers into the Museum’s Kids in Action! Healthy Living exhibit and to the garden in the Kids Go Green Environmental Center, a press release said.

The free workshop will be offered twice, from 8:30 a.m.-noon on Saturday, May 5, and again on May 19. Kids in Action and Kids Go Green staff and volunteers will lead the workshops and garden activities. These trainings are approved for in-service credit for teachers in the Oak Ridge school district, the press release said. [Read more…]

Children’s Museum hosts Celebration of the Young Child on Friday

Posted at 12:39 pm April 25, 2018
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

Children enjoy making crafts to take home at the Celebration of the Young Child at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

Crafts, storytelling, and fitness challenges will be among activities planned for the Celebration of the Young Child from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, April 27, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

Children’s author Adele Roberts will tell stories from her “Sammy the Skunk” series of books, accompanied by her Sammy puppets. Her stories are designed to stimulate children’s imaginations and to teach character values based on the situations the animals encounter, a press release said.

Physical Education teacher Josh Johnson from Linden Elementary School will kick off the morning with gym activities. Children will be “kids in motion” with the National Fitness Center’s obstacle course. And children will learn about fire safety from firefighters with the Oak Ridge Fire Department.

Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee will invite the museum’s young gardeners to “plant” a garden of pinwheels for prevention, a symbol of child abuse prevention, in the Environmental Learning Center and Gardens, the press release said. [Read more…]