School Programs
Here at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, one of our primary functions 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 during a pandemic and uncertain times. 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:
- Native Americans in the Ozarks: we use our bluff shelter exhibit and explore artifacts from our Native American collections.
- Transportation Then and Now: we explore various forms of transportation and their historical development in the Ozarks, including covered wagons, trains, cars, trucks, and airports.
To learn more about how we can help you, email Judy Costello or call 479-750-8165.
2022–2023 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 YEAR-ROUND
Native Americans of the Ozarks
Learn about the First Peoples in the Ozarks, Osage, and Cherokee Native Americans. Examine pre-contact tools and their uses.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; reading literature; language.
- Social Studies: place, region, and culture; resources and movement;
chronology; change over time; evidence.
Civil War Home Fronts and Haversacks
Learn about life on the home front through primary sources and living history. Find out what a soldier took with him to war.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language; literacy in history/social studies.
- Social Studies: evidence; expansion and reform; Civil War and Reconstruction.
Then and Now
Explore the changes in transportation, clothing, and education in the Ozarks. Learn about the first schools in the Ozarks and discover how people traveled.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language.
- Social Studies: place, region, and culture; resources and movement; changing spatial patterns, change over time, evidence.
Dinner with the Searcys
Visit the historic Searcy House on the museum grounds to learn about the World War II home front; use ration coupons to “purchase” dinner, and enjoy activities common to 1940s children.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language; literacy in history/social studies.
- Social Studies: citizenship, scarcity; cost and benefits; 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 “available seasonally” for our annual Fibers to Fabric (formerly Sheep to Shawl) event.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language; literacy in history/social studies.
- Social Studies: scarcity; cost and benefits; change over time.
PROGRAMS AVAILABLE 2022–2023
Buffalo River Country, Fall 2022
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Buffalo River’s designation as the country’s first Nation River, we are offering special school programming developed for grades 3 – 6 but adaptable for older students. The 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 is developed in coordination with our exhibit, Ken Smith’s Buffalo River Country, open through December 31, 2022. Members of the museum education staff offer an interactive exploration of the Buffalo River and Ozark Mountains prior to a free, school-wide performance by the musical duo Still on the Hill whose songs and style embody Ozark music. REGISTRATION LIMITED
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language; geography; spatial patterns and movement.
- History: changes over time; perspective; historical evidence and causation.
- Civics and Government: processes, rules, and laws.
- Economics: decision making.
Click on this link to request the program for your students.
Fibers to Fabric (formerly Sheep to Shawl), October 7, 2022
October is Economics Education Month, and this program is a great fit for grades 1 – 3. Visitors get to explore a fair-like environment of historic and modern-day fabric producers, observing and asking questions when they want to know more. They also absorb the ambiance of life in the past as 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. Limited tour slots will be available. REGISTRATION LIMITED
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language; literacy in history/social studies.
- Social Studies: scarcity, cost and benefits; change over time.
- Economics: exchange and markets; global economy.
Click on this link to request a time to participate.
Covered Wagons and Log Cabins, September to November, 2022
Take a “journey” to 1830s Arkansas, learn about early Ozark homesteads, and explore pioneer chores.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language.
- Social Studies: production and consumption; resources and movement; change over time.
Native American Days, November 17-18, 2022
Shiloh Museum again partners with the Arkansas Archeological Survey to present sessions about Native Americans in Arkansas. The nationally award-winning Native American Days is all virtual. Sessions will be available “live” on November 17th and 18th, and recordings of the sessions will be available after November 19th. Registration for this event opens in October. Contact Education Manager Judy Costello at jcostello@springdalear.gov or at 479-750-8165 for more information. Registration is now open! Click here to register.
Log Cabin Christmas, November 28 – December 16, 2022
Shiloh Museum interacts with students by presenting our magic lantern, sharing The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, and playing with vintage toys in our 1870s general store. During the magic lantern presentation, we will discuss the lantern itself and project hand-painted slides of winter scenes from the 1800s from the magic lantern. We will compare clothing and life from the 1800s to today as we look at the slides. Before reading The Night Before Christmas, we will review much of the vocabulary in the 1840s book and show how it relates to items in our pioneer exhibit and to life in the Ozarks in the mid-1800s. In the general store, students will play with tinker toys, pioneer toys, Lincoln Logs, and more.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language; reading literature.
- Social Studies: place, region, and culture; change over time; contextualization.
Winter in the Ozarks, November 28 – December 16, 2022
Students in grades 4 and up can explore our exhibit hall to learn how people and animals of the Ozarks prepared for winter. They can also view our magic lantern and visit the historic Searcy House to learn more about winter life in the Ozarks in the early 1940s.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening; language; reading literature.
- Social Studies: place, region, and culture; change over time; contextualization.
Mr. Cooper’s Barn and the Steele General Store, April to May, 2023
Students can try their hands at farm chores around the museum’s 1930s barn, then trade and barter for needed supplies at the General Store.
- Common Core ELA: speaking and listening.
- Social Studies: economics; place, region, and culture; resources and movement; change over time; evidence.
Arkansas Symbols Day, Spring 2023
Resources representing most of the tangible Arkansas state symbols are presented by community partners on the grounds of the Shiloh Museum. Students will visit interactive stations and should be able to recognize and describe these symbols. Arkansas Symbols Day is appropriate for K – 3 students, but language academy and special education students may also benefit. Older students will learn the significance and origin of our state symbols. Resources will be offered in English and Spanish. Curriculum ties include:
- Civics/Government Strand:
- Content Standard 2: Participation and Deliberation–students will analyze civic rights, roles, and responsibilities.
- Kindergarten – C.2.K.1 Recognize state and national symbols and patriotic songs
- 1st grade – C.2.1.1 Describe state and national symbols and patriotic songs
- 2nd grade – C.2.2.1 Explain the significance of state and national symbols, patriotic songs, and mottos
- 3rd grade – C.2.3.1 Investigate origins of state and national symbols, patriotic songs, and mottos
- 4th grade – C.2.4.1 Analyze the role state and national symbols, patriotic songs, and mottos; play in fostering citizenship
- Content Standard 2: Participation and Deliberation–students will analyze civic rights, roles, and responsibilities.
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.
"Color the Ozarks" Coloring Book
Our Color the Ozarks coloring book is designed not only for coloring but also for teaching the alphabet, practicing writing, learning Spanish and English words, and learning Ozark history. Each coloring page includes a letter of the alphabet, the name of the object in Spanish and English, and lines for practicing handwriting. Also included is historical information about each of the 26 coloring page topics.
You’re welcome to make copies of Color the Ozarks for education purposes.