History Labs in Your Classroom!
Overview
Have a field trip experience in your classroom! History Lab programs are designed to be brought to your school. A History Lab is an in-class interactive program that includes the use of primary sources. A museum teacher (often in historic costume) leads the activity. A program offering lasts 30-60 minutes, depending on the grade level and nature of the activity. A History Lab is suitable for students of all ages and abilities.
A History Lab is most effective when all students have an opportunity to interact with the museum teacher and the program materials. Interactions might include activities such as: learning a dance; trying on clothing; role-playing; analyzing historic images and text; handling, analyzing, or categorizing reproductions of artifacts; or tasting food. Foodways, music, daily life, textiles, and the 19th century work world are among the topics that may be incorporated into a History Lab program.
The most cost-effective way to use these programs would be for two or three classes to schedule a day of activities, sharing the $250 basic fee.
Fee? But I thought TAH participants could get a free History Lab! If you are a participant in the Teaching American History program at the Deerfield Teachers' Center, you are entitled to have - and are, in fact, required to have - one History Lab session in your classroom. (If you do not have a classroom of your own, you may share your History Lab with another class.) There is no cost to you. Other teachers in your school who are not Teaching American History participants can schedule the same program on the same day for an additional (discounted) fee. Please contact Lynne Manring for more information.
Attention 2012-2013 Teaching American History Participants! Are you are a participant in the South Hadley Consortium Teaching American History program who would like to schedule a History Lab? You need only know the program you want, and the number of students who will be involved. That's it! Send an email to Lynne Manring with these two bits of information and your contact information. Or, you may call Lynne at 413-774-2652, ext. 33, and leave her a message with these two pieces of information. Then, a PVMA Historian will contact you to set the date and work out the details.Your History Lab must be scheduled no later than Friday, November 16, 2012. History Labs may be scheduled to occur from September 2012 through April 2013. History Labs are not scheduled to occur in May or June.
Classroom History Lab Programs
- Lewis and Clark: Mapping Native Homelands;
Grades 4–12.
During their exploration of the vast expanses of the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark traveled through the homelands of many Native tribes. In this History Lab, students listen to two different interpretations (one Mandan, one Lewis) of the same landscape and examine the resulting maps, noting differences. Students then use descriptions in journal entries to create maps of Celilo Falls (Oregon) from the Wishram and Euro-American perspective. Pre-visit materials are available. - Picture This!
Grades K-2
The painter of Washington Crossing the Delaware (1850), Emanuel Leutze, created a window onto a true story that had at its core a very dangerous problem and a secret plan. By carefully looking at this famous work of art, students will gather clues about the nature of this dilemma and how General George Washington and his soldiers worked together to find a solution. - Picture This!
Grades 3-5
Students will understand that when deciding how to represent a true historical event, an artist makes choices. These choices influence what his or her final painting suggests about the people and events involved in the original historical episode. Students will compare and contrast America’s most famous representation of Washington Crossing the Delaware (by Emanuel Leutze, 1850) with a version of the crossing story told in a modern-day picture book to compare and contrast two versions of the same true story. - Picture This!
Grades 6-8
Students’ examination of The County Election (1852) by George Caleb Bingham will reveal clues about what the “voting picture” looked like in this country in the mid- nineteenth century. An interactive lesson featuring fictional and real profiles of Americans who did or did not qualify to vote will reveal what the “voting picture” looked like at other points in our nation’s history. Students will understand that while virtually every American over the age of 18 today has the right to vote, the story of suffrage in America is one of starts, stops, advances, and reversals. - Picture This!
Grades 9-12
Students will compare the African American voting experience before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with the experience suggested by Martin Puryear’s installation entitled Ladder for Booker T. Washington (1996). They will learn about the history of suffrage for the African American population through a variety of primary and secondary sources including a 1955 Mississippi voter registration form, a recent oral history account and James Karales’ famous photograph, Selma-to-Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965 (1965). - The Mum Bett Story: "Keepin' Still and Mindin' Things"
Grades 7–12.
In 1781, Sheffield, Massachusetts, resident Mum Bett (Elizabeth Freeman) successfully sued for her freedom from slavery. She had been greatly influenced by hearing conversations in her master's house about a new constitution for the state, and by attending a public reading of the Declaration of Independence. Students will examine primary sources and use Readers' Theater to learn about the life and achievements of this remarkable woman. - In Flew Enza: The Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918
Grades 5–12.
Enter the “quarantine zone” and examine primary sources to discover the impact of the epidemic in the Greenfield area and what was being done about it. Students will also take a whiff of some home remedies meant to make the patient feel better, and they will discuss the merits of these treatments - 19th Century School Lesson
Grades 1-8, Maximum of 25 students.
An early 19th century one-room school lesson to include role-play and a historic lesson. Supplies: grades 3-8 students will need scissors and one piece each of 8 1/2 x 11 white paper. Grades 1 & 2 need only the white paper. - Art and Geometry in American Quilts
Grades K-8
Quilting goes back to ancient times, but the beauty of repetitive "patchwork" blocks, which is associated with traditional American quilts, is the invention of frugal and creative American women of the 19th century. After a brief introduction with lots of visuals, the students play with both cloth and paper half-square-triangle units to explore the symmetrical design possibilities associated with this popular quilt design element. They slide, flip, and rotate their block designs, working both individually and in groups. This program is appropriate for a wide range of students, since the designs can be as simple or complicated as the students choose to make them. If time allows, they may each design a paper quilt block that can be glued and displayed. - Civil War
Grades 3-12
While studying the Civil War usually involves dates, battles and generals, this History Lab gives students insights into the lives of an ordinary young man and young woman involved with the war, through an examination of their possessions. See how using objects can
enhance study of an era. - Colonial Clothing
Grades K–5, Maximum of 20 students
Students will have the opportunity to try on reproduction clothing from the 18th century. - Dame School
Grades 1–8
Students will experience an 18th century school lesson. Activities will include role-play, recitation using hornbooks, and simple stitchery. - Early American Chores
Grades K–5, Maximum of 25 students
A museum teacher sets up chore stations in the classroom for students to cycle through. Chores might include drawing with a quill pen, simple stitchery, churning butter and stringing squash or apples for drying. Including the museum teacher, 4 adults are needed to supervise activities. - Alphabet Soup, "THAT Man", and Emergency Beer: The
Great Depression
Grades 6–12
From Alphabet Soup to WPA Zoos, students will explore jive talk, try to make a teacher's depression-era salary cover a family's expenses, and create a textbook timeline of the decade's events. - Vamos! Puerto Rican Migration to the Northeast
Grades 7 – 12
Students examine primary sources to learn about the history of Puerto Rican migration to the Pioneer Valley. They will recreate the tradition of “el lector”, a reader in a cigar factory, as they study the cultural and literary contributions of the Puerto Rican community to the Northeast. News articles reflecting attitudes towards the newcomers may be used. - Immigration
Grades 2–12
How might Eastern European immigrants have sustained their culture in the face of assimilation? Activities might include the reenactment of an arrival exam, exploration of a sampling of belongings, tasting food and sharing immigration stories. - Lights
All ages
A room that can be darkened works best.
This activity will include a close look at early lighting devices and their fuels. The lighting devices might include spermaceti candles, oil lamps, floating candles and more. - Music, Manners & Allemandes
Grades 1–12
A microphone would be appreciated but is not required. A museum teacher in historic garb leads your class in a hands-on workshop that includes old-time dance exercises, bows and curtsies, a historic dance, and a discussion on etiquette. - Native American Life
Grades 1–8
Students will examine a wide variety of touch-its including tools, food, clothing, etc. Might include toys and games, and other aspects of Native American life. - Nuthatch
Grades 3–12
A museum teacher portrays a Pocumtuck (Native American) woman who left her homeland in the 17th Century. She discusses the problems her people had with the English settlers and why she chose to leave the area. Issues of land ownership, the beaver trade, and assimilation are included. - Old Time Amusements
Grades K–6
Supplies needed if constructing a toy or game: scissors, glue and colored pencils or crayons. A potpourri of activities are sampled including indoor and (if weather or large space permits) outdoor games and old-fashioned toys. - Roaring 20s (Postwar World War I and the Jazz Age)
Grades 6–12
Students will explore the youth culture of this time period and learn how events following the 'Great War' led to gangster crime, women's rights, and the Black Renaissance. Activities might include samplings of period dance music, clothing to try on, learning some slang from the period, and examining artifacts. - Speak Up!
All ages.
Up to the mid-20th century, elocution was considered an indispensable skill for every citizen of a democracy to master. From the silent "tableau" to vibrant oratory, this lively, participatory program is guaranteed to awaken your students' hidden theatrical talents. Historic offerings of recitations, sayings, and poems can be tailored to your curriculum. - Made in America
Grades 3–12
Students will examine and discuss many trade goods of the colonial era. They will use primary source documents to determine which items were imported from Great Britain and which ones were exported. Trade routes might also be discussed. - Underwear
Grades 1–8
Find out what people from a long time ago put on first. Students will have an opportunity to examine and try on old-fashioned underwear such as hoops, corsets, and drawers, from a variety of eras. - Voices from the Past
All ages
A museum teacher in 18th century clothing and in role will tell the story of one of the captives from the 1704 raid on Deerfield. - World War II Homefront
Grades 3–12
Students relive what it may have been like for school children at home during the war. They explore wartime news, music, and food rationing, employing all senses in their learning. The experience is brought "home" through locally-based letters and war memorabilia.