Museum - Education
Special Topic Programs

All Special Topic School programs are free and there is no admission charge to the Museum.

The Museum offers prepared programs covering selected topics on the history of Southwest Michigan. Tours last approximately two hours and are available from Tuesday to Friday. All programs meet Michigan’s social studies educational benchmarks. The Museum staff suggests the maximum number students to bring for each program is 60. Contact the Museum Educator at (269)782-1334 or jquail@swmich.edu to arrange a field trip.

Expanding Your Visit: Pre- and Post-Tour Activities

The following In-School Progams offer classroom activities which are designed to connect your students’ museum visit to classroom lessons on the appropriate subject. Pre-tour activities introduce students to general concepts that will make their museum visit more meaningful, while post-tour activities help teachers to extend and enrich the learning experience with fun and stimulating exercises. There are no classroom activities for “The ABCs of Museums” tour.

Escape to Freedom (Grades 3 and 4)	This program, which is offered year-round, demonstrates the role residents of Southwest Michigan played in the Underground Railroad. Students will play the role of fugitives and follow the path to freedom from Kentucky to Canada through Cass County. They also will learn songs and stories, and will make a memento to take home.
Growing Up Pioneer (Grades 2 through 5)	This program, which is offered only in the spring, demonstrates to students how the children of Michigan’s early frontier lived and had fun. They will be introduced to various domestic arts including the milling of corn and the making of butter. Students also will have a chance to make a wooden toy, a fun lesson in the use of natural resources by pioneers. The grand finale of this program for students in is a frontier dance.
Keepers of the Fire (Grades 3 and 4)	This program, which is offered year-round, explores the history and the living culture of the Potawatomi Indians of Southwest Michigan. Students will learn about traditional crafts and make a memento to keep, find out about village sites in Cass County, and learn about the Neshnabek language.
The ABCs of Museums (Grades K and 1st)	What do you do at a museum? Find out by participating in this year-round Museum program. Designed to introduce students in kindergarten and first grade to the basics of visiting a museum and how to behave appropriately in museums and other public places.