Program Title: Virginia History Day Workshop
All Ages: 4th - 12th
Time: 60 - 90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 60
Description: Recommended for the fall semester, as students are being introduced to Virginia History Day, this workshop will spend time in our galleries and classroom spaces. Students will learn tips and tricks for thinking about the yearly theme, preparing their Virginia History Day project, and conducting primary source research. Students do not need to have their topics chosen for this workshop! We can also host smaller, more customized library research workshops in the spring semester for students actively researching a chosen topic. Please contact our Manager of Museum Programs, Maggie Creech, at mcreech@virginiahistory.org if you are interested in a customized research workshop.
Not interested in the above program? No problem! Feel free to browse our regular program offerings below, or book a tour of any current exhibits.
K-1st Grade | 2nd Grade | 3rd Grade | 4th - 5th Grade | Secondary | Custom
Program Title: Dressing the Past (PreK // K.1-K.3, K.7, K.8 // 1.1-1.3b)
Time: 60 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 100 students
Description: Using clothes and replica artifacts, students will take a journey through time to look at items of clothing from famous Virginians and important periods in Virginia’s history. Participants will be able to draw conclusions about life in the past vs. present, and talk about why individuals and communities lived, worked, and dressed differently. Take a sneak peek with our paired resource packet: Dressing the Past
Program Title: Famous Faces (1.1a, 1.1e, 1.2a-b, 1.3, 1.4)
Time: 60 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 100 students
Description: Using primary sources and time in our galleries, students will be introduced to Famous Virginians. Participants will be able to discuss the contributions of these individuals to life in Virginia today, as well as think critically about different ways we remember people from the past. Take a sneak peek with our paired resource packet: Famous Faces
Program Title: Marvelous Maps (K.1, K.3 - K.7 // 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 1.6)
Time: 60 minutes
Maximum group size: 100 students
Description: Students will develop map skills and view primary and secondary sources by investigating a variety of maps to learn about basic map symbols, cardinal directions, and land and water features. Participants will also compare globes to flat maps, historic maps to modern maps, and local maps to national maps. Take a sneak peek with our paired resource packet: Marvelous Maps
Program Title: Powhatan’s People (2.1a, 2.1b, 2.1d, 2.1e, 2.3, 2.7)
Time: 60-90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 60 students for guided programming, up to 120 for self-guided stations
Description: In our guided program, an educator will take students through our learning center and galleries as they talk about the lifestyles of the Powhatan in comparison with the Lakota and Pueblo tribes. In our self-guided stations, students will rotate through four activities, using gallery scavenger hunts, replica artifacts, archaeology, and a craft to learn about the lives and customs of the Powhatan Indians in comparison to other Native American tribes, with a focus on the Lakota and Pueblo peoples. Take a sneak peek at our paired resource worksheet: Powhatan's People
Program Title: The Voice, The Pen, The Sword (3.11 – 3.13)
Time: 90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 60 students
Description: Students will spend time in our Story of Virginia exhibit learning about the diversity of population and perspective throughout Virginia history. We will analyze our system of government, and what happens when people don’t agree on the laws! In the classroom, participants will work together on an interactive activity that illustrates the process of creating and voting for different laws.
Program Title: Hands-On History Boxes (SOLs vary depending on topic of program)
Time: 60 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 50-60 students
Description: Using replica artifacts, images, and time in our galleries, students will explore a specific era of Virginia history in-depth. Permanent topics include Pocahontas and the Powhatans, the Revolutionary War, Westward Expansion, and the Civil War.
Program Title: The Story of Virginia/Hands-On-History Boxes (SOLs vary depending on topic of program)
Time: 90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 100-120 students
Description: Students will participate in a 45-minute Story of Virginia gallery tour by viewing and analyzing objects on display. They will then dive deeper into a specific area of history with our hands-on history box interactive classroom activity that incorporates primary sources, secondary sources, and replica artifacts.
Program Title: Virginia Studies SOL-Based Combination Tour (VS.1 – VS.10)
Time: 120 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 100-120 students
Description: Specifically developed for elementary Virginia Studies students, this program follows the timeline of Virginia History from prehistory to the present day. Students will participate in a 60-minute gallery tour by viewing and analyzing objects on display, as well as play a 60-minute interactive review game that highlights topics through primary sources, secondary sources, and replica artifacts. We do advise that this program is best performed in April or May, after students have covered the majority of their curriculum.
Program Title: Story of Virginia Tour and Scavenger Hunt (VS.1 – VS.10)
Time: 90 Minutes
Maximum Group Size: 50-60
Description: Students will spend the entire time in our galleries as they explore the Story of Virginia with an educator-led tour. They will then end their experience with a self-led scavenger hunt. Scavenger hunt topics all correlate to Virginia Studies SOLs, and can cover a variety of topics, from a general timeline, to women’s history, to African-American history. Take a sneak peek at an example scavenger hunt.
Program Title: Hands-On-History Stations and Scavenger Hunt (VS.1 – VS.10)
Time: 60-90 Minutes
Maximum Group Size: flexible
Description: Students will spend the entire time in our galleries as they explore the Story of Virginia with a self-led scavenger hunt. Educator-staffed stations that represent the Powhatans, the Revolutionary War, Westward Expansion, and the Civil War with replica artifacts will also be available for students to touch and experience. Scavenger hunt topics all correlate to Virginia Studies SOLs, and can cover a variety of topics, from a general timeline, to women’s history, to African-American history. Take a sneak peek at an example scavenger hunt.
Program Title: Connecting the Docs...Primary Source Investigations (SOLs vary depending on grade and topic of program)
Time: 90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 50-60 students
Description: Using manuscripts, images, and replica artifacts, students will explore a topic from Virginia’s past. Students will interact with a variety of perspectives surrounding a specific issue, as well as analyze the impact of changing types of media. Topics include Virginia Indians, The Revolutionary War, Westward Expansion, Slavery in Virginia, The Civil War, Reconstruction, Virginia in the 20th Century, and Civil Rights.
Program Title: Junior Curators (SOLs vary depending on grade and topic of program )
Time: 90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 50-60 students
Description: Students will tour museum galleries to see and analyze how sources and artifacts are displayed to best illustrate a topic of your choice. This program also includes a classroom portion that focuses on analysis of primary sources, and finally allows students to “curate” their own pop-up exhibit for quick presentation to the class about why the students chose the images, sources, and artifacts that they did to represent the chosen topic. Topics include Virginia Indians, The Revolutionary War, Westward Expansion, Slavery in Virginia, The Civil War, Reconstruction, Virginia in the 20th Century, and Civil Rights.
Program Title: Lessons Learned (SOLs vary depending on grade)
Time: 90 minutes
Maximum Group Size: 50-60 students
Description: In this interactive analysis of African-American history, students use Virginia textbooks from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries to examine the tone and content of topics ranging from the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in 1619 through Reconstruction. Students will then compare how these topics are covered in our Story of Virginia gallery today.
Our custom programs can be for all age-levels, whether it is from a desire to dive more deeply into a specific topic, learn more about a topic not listed above, or work more hands-on with our vast collection of primary and secondary sources. Some past programs have focused on the African-American experience in Virginia, toys of the past, women in Virginia, and changing technologies. Custom programs are also a way to work our temporary exhibits into your visit – let us know what you are interested in! Custom programs may be reserved by contacting Maggie Creech, the Manager of Museum Programs, at mcreech@virginiahistory.org or 804.342.9652. Email is preferred.
Teachers: Check out our online Teaching with Photographs. You and your students will be able to use this online resource to explore photographs from the early 1900s.
