School Programs
One of our primary functions at Shiloh Museum of Ozark History is to serve as an educational resource for teachers and children. All our school programs are free of charge and are designed to meet grade-appropriate curriculum frameworks for grades K–12. We offer field trips and visits to the classroom, discovery boxes and artifact boxes for loan, and professional development workshops for teachers. Join the fun as we bring the past to the present!
Hello teachers!
We appreciate the work of our area educators in providing instruction and meaningful experiences to students of all ages. We want to support your efforts through our program offerings virtually, in person, or a hybrid of the two.
Some of the ways we can collaborate with you include:
- We can host your classes or groups at the Museum for a tour of the exhibit hall and grounds or for a customized program based on your curriculum needs. Our on-site programs are interactive, and we can divide classes into smaller groups to create a safe and meaningful experience for your students.
- We can come to your classroom for a presentation and activities designed to meet curriculum standards in many topic areas.
- You can host a virtual field trip via Zoom in which our staff are the guest speakers. By hosting, you can ensure you are following your school’s security protocols. Typically these virtual field trips are 30 to 45 minutes, but we are happy to work with you to design the appropriate length program.
- We can partner with you to develop a hybrid program that has both virtual and in-person components.
Our program topics cover many areas related to the Arkansas Ozarks, specifically Benton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Newton, and Washington counties. We are happy to work with you to develop the programming appropriate for your curriculum and grade level. Some of our most popular topics include:
2023–2024 Education Events
Arkansas Symbols Day, October 10, 2023
Arkansas Symbols Day showcases the history of our state through exploration of the official Arkansas state symbols. An estimated 25 stations will be located throughout the museum’s campus, each highlighting an individual Arkansas state symbol. Symbol-related activities and/or take-home items for local students will be available at each station. Arkansas Symbols Day fits Arkansas curriculum standards for grades K – 3 but is open to all grades. This event is free for local schools to attend but registration for a 90-minute time slot is required. Register here.
- Social Studies: place, region, and culture; change over time; contextualization.
Native American Days, November 16-17, 2023
Join Shiloh Museum in partnership with the Arkansas Archeological Survey and approximately 20 different presenters for the 4th annual Native American Days virtual event. A variety of virtual sessions highlighting the history and culture of Native Americans in Arkansas will be offered live for registered attendees over a span of two days. Session recordings will be available following after the event. Native American Days fits Arkansas curriculum standards for grades 5 – 7 but is open to all grades. Registration for this event will open October 1. Go to Native American Days for more detailed information and to register your classroom.
- Social Studies: geography; spatial patterns and movement, change over time, environment and society; economics; exchange and markets; history; expansion and reform.
Fibers to Fabric (formerly Sheep to Shawl), Spring 2024
Students will explore a fair-like environment of historic and modern-day fabric producers on the museum grounds, observing and asking questions when they want to know more. Students will also absorb the ambiance of life in the past compared to today. Historians and artisans will be on the grounds demonstrating their trades, including sheep shearing, spinning, weaving, and much more. They’ll bring to life the processes of creating fabric and clothing in the Ozarks. This event fits Arkansas curriculum standards for grades 1 – 3 but is open to all grades. Fibers to Fabric is free but pre-registration is required as limited tour slots will be available. Registration will open in January, 2024.
- Social Studies: economics; scarcity, cost and benefits; exchange and markets; global economy; history; change over time.
2023–2024 School Program Topics
All field trips and school programs meet Arkansas Social Studies and Common Core State Standards curriculum frameworks. Optional writing assignments are available for most programs. Program activities vary based on grade.
PROGRAMS AVAILABLE in the 2023-2024 School Year
Buffalo River Country
Created in 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Buffalo River’s designation as the country’s first National River, this program introduces students to the rich, natural life of the Buffalo River by delving into the geology, beauty, history, and culture of the area. This program can easily be presented at your school and at the Shiloh Museum. It includes hands-on exploration of the museum’s collections.
- Social Studies: history; changes over time; perspective; historical evidence and causation; civics and government; processes, rules, and laws.
Civil War Home Fronts and Haversacks
Learn about life on the home front through living history performances; discover hands-on replicas of daily items used by Civil War soldiers; and explore the museum’s exhibit hall with a focus on the Civil War in the Arkansas Ozarks.
- Social Studies: evidence; expansion and reform; Civil War and Reconstruction.
Covered Wagons and Log Cabins
Take a “journey” to 1830s – 1850s Arkansas and learn about life in the Arkansas Ozarks. Experience Ozark homesteads by visiting the museum’s 1850s log home, the Settlers of the 1800s exhibit, and explore hands-on chores of the time period.
- Social Studies: production and consumption; resources and movement; change over time.
First Peoples of the Ozarks
Through hands-on exploration of the museum’s historic grounds, exhibit hall, and education collections, students will discover ways the First Peoples of the Ozarks interacted with their environment and used natural resources in their daily life, including making tools, preparing and processing food, and more.
- Social Studies: place, region, and culture; resources and movement; chronology; change over time; evidence; perspective.
- Science: life sciences; ecology.
Mr. Cooper’s Barn and the Steele General Store
Through hands-on exploration, students will experience what life was like on a 1930s farm in the Ozarks. Students will also take a visit to the museum’s 1879s general store to learn about the Great Depression and trade and barter for needed supplies. Students will also explore the museum’s exhibit hall with a focus on the arrival of electricity to the Arkansas Ozarks and the “alphabet agencies” of the 1930s.
- Social Studies: economics; place, region, and culture; resources and movement; change over time; evidence.
Sheep to Shawl in your Classroom
Learn how fibers like wool and cotton are processed and turned into clothing through demonstrations and hands-on activities. See also Education Events 2023 – 2024 for our annual Fibers to Fabric (formerly Sheep to Shawl) event.
- Social Studies: scarcity; cost and benefits; change over time.
Then and Now
Through hands-on exploration and an overview visit to the museum’s exhibit hall and historic grounds, discover changes over time in the Ozarks, including transportation, clothing, and technology. Educators may select a focus area to be highlighted during one section of the program, including geology, fossils, Native America stone tools, early settlers, architecture, and ecology (season-dependent).
- Social Studies: place, region, and culture; resources and movement; changing spatial patterns, change over time, evidence.
Winter in the Ozarks
Learn how people experienced winter in the Ozarks through the eras before modern times. Stay warm inside the museum’s 1854 log cabin and see a Dutch oven cooking demonstration. Explore museum collections such as our nineteenth-century magic lantern projector and hand-painted slides depicting winter scenes of the past. Finally, take a “journey” through time in the museum’s exhibit hall.
- Social Studies: place, region, and culture; change over time; contextualization.
Scheduling a Field Trip
All field trips meet Arkansas Social Studies and Common Core State Standards curriculum frameworks. Optional writing assignments are available for most programs. Program activities will vary based on grade.
Cost: Free, but donations are welcome.
For more information, email Education Manager Judy Costello or call 479-750-8165.
Click on this link to request a field trip.
Discovery Boxes
Our Discovery Boxes are filled with artifacts, documents, photographs, and teaching materials for check-out and use in the classroom. (Items from our “Great Depression” Discovery Box are pictured above.)
Discovery Boxes are free of charge and related to the history of the Arkansas Ozarks, specifically Benton, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Newton, and Washington counties. All boxes include a teacher’s manual which includes an artifact guide and teaching materials.
- Boxes must be reserved in advance.
- A box request may not be available at the exact time requested. A museum staff member will contact you to confirm availability and work with you on pick up and drop off times.
- Boxes must be picked up from and returned to Shiloh Museum.
- Box requests may take up to 48 hours to process.
- All boxes may be kept for up to one week.
- Boxes not returned on or before the due date will incur a $1 fee per day.
- Boxes are limited to up to three at one school in one week.
- Boxes may be shared among teachers and classrooms, but we ask that one person be responsible for returning boxes in good condition.
Use this link to reserve Discovery or Artifact boxes: Loan Box Reservations
DISCOVERY BOX TOPICS
Click on the links to see pictures and information about each box.
Cherokee Peoples in the Ozarks
Weaving Looms
Artifact Boxes
Artifact Boxes contain artifacts, identification guides with color photos, labels, and checklists. The artifacts are grouped thematically per box and labels are provided so that teachers may make their own classroom displays. Unlike our Discovery Boxes, we have not provided lesson plans and resources as the purpose of the Artifact Boxes is to share the many artifacts we have in our education collections with teachers who can use them to enliven any topic studied in the classroom, not just social studies or history.
ARTIFACT BOXES
- Boxes must be reserved in advance.
- A box request may not be available at the exact time requested. A museum staff member will contact you to confirm availability and work with you on pick up and drop off times.
- Boxes must be picked up from and returned to Shiloh Museum.
- Box requests may take up to 48 hours to process.
- All boxes may be kept for up to one week.
- Boxes not returned on or before the due date will incur a $1 fee per day.
- Boxes are limited to up to three at one school in one week.
- Boxes may be shared among teachers and classrooms, but we ask that one person be responsible for returning boxes in good condition.
Use this link to reserve Discovery or Artifact boxes: Loan Box Reservations
ARTIFACT BOX TOPICS
Cameras
Diversity
Dolls
General Store
Geology
Medicine
Native Americans
Printing
Quilting
Toys and Games
Professional Development
We offer Arkansas Department of Education-approved professional development opportunities, free of charge to educators at any level. Workshops are taught at the museum or brought to schools. To schedule a workshop, email education manager Judy Costello or call 479-750-8165.
WORKSHOP TOPICS
Overview of Shiloh Museum Resources for Schools – 60 minutes
Teachers learn about our field trip and in-school children’s programs, and how these programs support the Common Core curriculum; teachers are introduced to our Discovery and Artifact Boxes available for loan. We also include a tour of our historic buildings and grounds and time to explore the exhibit hall.
Field Trip Immersion – 60 to 90 minutes
We can adapt any of our field trip programs for demonstration to teachers. This format includes a short introduction to the program and how it supports curriculum frameworks; teachers experience a pared-down version of the field trip program and participate in the activities their students would do. Teachers participate in a final session brainstorming pre- and post-visit resources they would use relating to curriculum frameworks and ways to improve or enhance the activities.
Weaving in the Classroom – up to 6 hours
Weaving on a loom is an engaging, collaborative way to teach a variety of subjects, including economics, history, and math. This hands-on workshop is a collaboration between the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History and weavers from the Northwest Arkansas Handweavers Guild and covers the tools and strategies teachers need to bring weaving into their classroom. The workshop covers the history of weaving in Arkansas and the world, how to weave on a loom, how weaving fits curriculum frameworks, and extensions that allow students to create multiple products. Educators that attend the workshop will be able to check out looms from the Shiloh Museum to use in their classroom.