Mary Fay Jones Collections in Hand Programs
Instructors bring objects from the museum’s teaching collection into individual classrooms, providing hands-on experiences that enhance your curriculum. A variety of interactive techniques are used in each lesson.
Lessons for Pre-K and Kindergarten are 30–45 minutes in length. Lessons for grades 1–5 are 45–60 minutes, depending upon your schedule.
Teachers receive pre- and post-visit materials prior to the classroom visit. All materials are designed to meet Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and to help you integrate the lesson into your classroom curriculum.
Generous funding support allows this program to be offered to all Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket schools at no charge. Schools in other locations may schedule a visit at a rate of $100 per classroom presentation.
Pre-K: On the Go
A perfect complement to your transportation unit, this lesson introduces young learners to different ways to travel on land, in the air, and on the water. Participatory activities include a “show-and-tell” with seven antique toys, including a locomotive, covered wagon, motorboat, and rocket, a feltboard sorting activity, and a sing-along and movement activity. For Educator’s Packet, click here.
Kindergarten: Reading Without Words
This lesson encourages young learners to develop and exercise their observation skills. Participants practice “reading” objects by finding, identifying, and interpreting visual clues. Through examination of antique and modern objects, such as screwdrivers, ladles, clothespins, and dominoes, students discover similarities and differences between living and working now and long ago. For Educator’s Packet, click here.
Grade 1: American Children at Play
A selection of antique toys and games from the 1600s to the 1900s such as a stereoscope, a Native American doll, and Tiddledy Winks demonstrates a variety of children’s pastimes throughout our country’s history. Modern toys and games help to illustrate similarities and differences between the ways children played in the past and ways we play today. At the end of the lesson, students are invited to test their skill with reproduction games. For Educator’s Packet, click here.
Grades 2–3: The First Americans
An assortment of artifacts and prints illustrates the similarities and differences between food, shelter, and clothing across a wide variety of Native American cultures. Gathered around an oversized map, students discuss the influence of geography and natural resources on the lives of historic Native Peoples. Students explore the functions of artifacts, such as a goat horn spoon, a blackware pottery vessel, and an Ojibwa beaded bag. For Educator’s Packet, click here.
Grade 3: Whaling: An Industry at Sea
Why did men spend up to five years at sea chasing after whales? Students explore the fascinating history of whaling and the uses for products made from whale oil, bone, and baleen. They role-play the capture of a whale by performing a short play written by a 19th century sailor. The lesson concludes with a hands-on exploration of whaling products, including an oil lamp, a tin of oil, and a corset busk. For Educator’s Packet, click here.
Grade 4: Budding Botanists
This lesson blends history and botany with an emphasis on historical and contemporary uses of flowers, flower structures and their functions, and flowers as a natural resource. The program concludes with a hands-on science investigation where students become junior botanists, “dissecting” flowers to gain a more thorough understanding of the process of pollination. For Educator’s Packet, click here.
Grade 5: Early American Crafts
Transported back in time to the colonial days of George Washington and Betsy Ross, students discover how men and women lived and worked in rural New England. A map activity begins the lesson as students practice their geography skills, identifying the thirteen colonies and available natural resources. After brainstorming a list of colonial occupations, students examine antique tools to learn more about the work of farmers, homemakers, blacksmiths, cobblers, and wheelwrights during the 1700s and 1800s. For Educator’s Packet, click here.
How to Schedule:
All programs must be reserved a minimum of two weeks in advance. Museum instructors teach a maximum of four lessons per day. Scheduling lessons consecutively is preferred.
Please call Amanda Meyer at 508-888-3300 ext. 160 or email ameyer@heritagemuseums.org with the following information:
Contact name
Contact phone number
Best time to call
Contact email
Name of school
Grade level(s)
Lesson(s) requested
Number of classes
First and second choice of dates
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