Five Connecticut institutions are proud to offer discounted programs for K-5 students that introduce civics, community, and government to young learners through engaging and accessible activities. As sites and keepers of history, these museums draw on our collective past to engage students with the past, present, and future. Our educators will help your students get excited about the potential and possibilities of civic life in the museum and in the classroom.
Civics Education for Connecticut Students is funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, administered by the Connecticut Museum of History and Culture. The project is designed to improve elementary civics education while promoting closer ties between history museums and schools.
What Do People Do All Day? (Gr. K-2)
Illustrator Richard Scarry developed his books to be educational and fun for children. Scarry’s beloved Busytown was created while he lived in Westport and teaches children about how communities work: what people do, the transportation they use, and the places they go. The program invites students to draw connections between their personal experiences in their community and Scarry’s fictional Busytown. Students will use paper to design buildings and spaces that they’d like to see in their own communities.
What Makes a Community? (Gr. 2-3)
By considering connections between the land, the built environment, and the different people who have lived in what we now know as Fairfield, students will explore how people found ways to build community throughout history. This walking tour highlights three historic sites on the Museum’s campus: the Sun Tavern, which functioned as an important gathering space in the 1700s; the Old Academy, one of the town’s oldest surviving school buildings; and the Old Burying Ground, the oldest cemetery in Fairfield.
Exploring Local History
How might we begin exploring the stories of people and events from the past? Students will build their observation and critical thinking skills by handling and studying reproduction artifacts up close. Students will also study maps to explore how the area’s landscape has changed over time, serving different purposes for different communities. In particular, students will learn about the culture of the Native Americans who lived in the area and then create their own corn husk dolls to take home.
Interested in one of these programs? Book your field trip by sending an email to us at [email protected]!