Tours and Programs for Social Studies
Social Studies
From history and geography to economics, government and civics, we can help your students connect to social studies through firsthand experiences they can’t forget. Our historic village provides settings for the stories of a full century of America’s past, and we encourage students to observe, refect, question and decide. We use a variety of techniques – from playlets and hands-on experiences to demonstrations and Q&A – to engage students in multidisciplinary learning, and our 100-year-long perspective facilitates the investigation of interdependence, continuity and change, and identifcation of patterns through time.
With works of art spanning four centuries, the John L. Wehle Gallery can serve as another effective resource for social studies. Art refects the social and cultural environment within which it is created and so can serve as a window to different places and times. In additiion, much can be learned from the gallery's historic clothing collection, the largest privately held collection in the country.
The Genesee Country Nature Center can help students understand the history of people on the landscape over the past 200 years. Guided hikes on trails that crisscross previously farmed land as well as meadows and woodlands are structured to foster your students’ individual exploration and discovery.
NYS Learning Standards:
SS1: History of the United States and New York
SS2: World History
SS3: Geography
SS4: Economics
SS5: Civics, Citizenship and Government
Self Guided Tours of the Historic Village
Visit the historic village and take an exciting journey of discovery into the past. History comes alive as students spend time at homes, trades, businesses and public buildings that are most relevant to your curriculum plans and their interests. Use your Educator’s Preview Pass for a free advance visit, and then design a tour on which your students investigate, compare and contrast lives of 200 years ago with their own. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Mid-May through mid-October, Tuesdays – Fridays |
Enrichment Options
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Enhance your guided or self-guided tour by scheduling a structured hands-on half-hour program lead by a museum educator.
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19th-Century Games (Grades 3-12)
Fun and leisure were important parts of children’s lives in the 19th century, just as they are today. However, the toys and games were often made at home and operated under child power instead of batteries. A session of structured kinesthetic activities invites students to try their skill at skittles, stilts, graces, rolling a hoop, cup-and-ball, the whimmy-diddle, buzz saw and much more. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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History Mysteries (Grades 3-12)
Do your students know how to use a boot jack – or what’s inside a tinderbox? In this program they’ll examine unusual and everyday objects from the 19th century to discover how people devised technological solutions to meet their needs. Students will have the opportunity to handle period objects and make comparisons to the tools and constructs of today. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Wildlife of the Genesee Country (Grades 4-12)
Your students will learn about the animals native to the Genesee Country and how and why wildlife populations changed with the advent of Euro-American settlement. This history-based nature program provides opportunities to examine animal skulls, bones and skins as well as live specimens. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring – afternoons only |
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Museum Educator-Guided Tours of the Historic Village
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Take a specially designed tour of the 19h century with a museum educator. Each guided tour is approximately 2½ hours long, and content is adaptable for your specific grade level. Students will be divided into groups of about 20 each, and groups will rotate among the historic structures.
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Early 19th-Century Lifeways
Students will travel through a century of American life. Compare homes and children's lives from the beginning to the end of the century. Visit with a tradesman who will demonstrate the latest developments in 19th century technology. Find out how early residents relied upon local business to provide commerce and communication. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Early May and late October, Tuesdays-Fridays |
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Theme Tours
Do you and your students have a particular interest? We can design a tour around a theme, such as architecture, horticulture, kitchens, textiles and trades. Please call us at (585) 538-6822 x216 to discuss your particular needs and interests. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Early May and late October, Tuesdays-Fridays |
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Pioneer Chore Tour (Grades 7-8 only)
Your middle school students will expend excess energy on this custom guided tour! Select from physical activities, such as building a fence, churning butter, and sawing wood. Watch our tradesmen at work and make a tin ornament. Learn about 19th-century hygiene and make a sweet bag. There may even be time for lessons at the schoolhouse and games on the Village Square. Please call us at (585) 538-6822 x216 to discuss your particular needs and interests. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Early May and late October, Tuesdays – Fridays (Additional dates available by special arrangement) |
Focused Field Study
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Teacher-developed and student-tested, Genesee Country Village & Museum Focused Field Studies provide immersive experiences for your students and allow you to direct attention to specific topics that coordinate with your curriculum plan.
Your students will work in small groups with museum staff in settings especially created to facilitate understanding and skill development. Field experiences vary but may include doing chores, cooking, interviewing specialists, drawing and sketching, collecting and analyzing samples, or performing.
When you choose a themed Focused Field Study, you’ll receive a study guide especially developed for that topic. Each includes pre-visit activities to prepare your students for their field experience as well as post-visit activities for use as follow-throughs or extensions. A historic context helps set the stage, and a topical bibliography of books, magazines, videos, and websites facilitates further exploration. Each guide also includes a vocabulary list, sample organizers and worksheets for copying as needed. |
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Abolition: African-American Life in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
This unit employs varied settings and techniques of engagement to introduce students to the issue of abolition and its impact on the lives of African Americans living in the Genesee Country. Students explore the working conditions of both slaves and freed men and women and connect to songs and stories of the Underground Railroad. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4, 5 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Businesses and Professions in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
This unit uses a variety of settings to introduce students to ways people made a living in 19th-century America. They spend time visiting a family-owned inn for travelers, where they pitch in and help prepare for the next group of guests, and a general store, where they process inventory, sort mail, wrap packages and more to convince the storekeeper that they would make a fine clerk. Students may also interview specialists to find out what training, skills, and tools were needed to pursue jobs – some familiar and some not. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Crafts and Trades in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
This unit facilitates students’ exploration of how 19th century Americans met their communities’ needs and wants and how this changed through time in concert with advances in communication, transportation and technology. Students in small groups visit trades or crafts to determine the resources and process required to produce an item, the basic needs the item met, and the modes of its distribution. In each case, students have opportunities to perform at least one step in the production process they observe. Later, students visit village buildings to identify examples of the trades and crafts they documented in the morning and to determine how they were used, by whom and how regularly. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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School, Work and Play: A Child’s Life Experienced in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
A 19th-century child’s life was a mix of school, work and play – just as a 21st-century child’s life is – but there were differences too. This unit focuses on the activities that engaged children over 100 years ago. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Food:Cooking & Kitchen Technology in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
This interdisciplinary unit uses food as a way to examine 19th-century American life. By participating in food-related activities at a series of homes from different times in the 1800s, students collect information that enables them to consider change through time and to compare and contrast the 19th century with the one in which they live today. Students will participate in a hands-on cooking activity and visit other kitchens to learn about ingredients and their sources, cooking and food-preservation technology, resource utilization, and relationships between food and culture. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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We the People: Government and Civic Responsibility in 19th-Century America (Grades 4-8)
This unit engages students in considering the role of civic leaders in 19th-century America with relevance to our world today. Using primary documents and true-to-the-day issues, students engage in role-playing and decision-making. There are options for delivering speeches and interviewing village staff as a means for understanding the role of local government and citizen involvement. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fall and Spring |
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Focused Field Studies at Genesee Country Nature Center
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Sap, Syrup & Sugar (Grades K-12)
This popular program traces the history and science of maple sugaring from early American and present-day commercial production perspectives. Students hike to the sugar bush, learn why maple trees make sap, witness a 19th-century sugaring demonstration, talk with a modern-day syrup maker and taste the final product. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Mondays – Fridays in March |
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Home for the Holidays (Grades K-12)
This one-of-a-kind interdisciplinary program traces the evolution of winter holiday celebrations in America through the 19th century, with special emphases on the contributions of various cultural groups. Historic buildings decorated to period are staffed by museum educators who help students understand the cumulative and changing nature of holiday observances. Students are invited to join in holiday activities during their visit. You may opt to have students make a tin ornament of their own by working alongside the village tinsmith for an extra charge.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Fridays TBD in December |
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Sap, Syrup & Sugar (Grades K-12)
This popular program traces the history and science of maple sugaring from early American and present-day commercial production perspectives. Students hike to the sugar bush, learn why maple trees make sap, witness a 19th-century sugaring demonstration, talk with a modern-day syrup maker and taste the final product. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Mondays – Fridays in March |
Movable Museum
Can't make it to the museum? Let us bring our “Moveable Museum” programs to you. These in-classroom learning experiences are excellent on their own or as a pre- or post-visit experience to enhance the lessons of your field trip.
Museum educators bring touchable, usable objects to your classroom in connection with standards-relevant themed programs specially designed to fit with your curriculum. Programs are designed for small class-sized groups and last 45-60 minutes.
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The Animal Kingdom (Preschool-Grade 3)
A museum naturalist visits your classroom and brings a group of small animal friends for your students to meet. This program focuses on animal diversity and biological adaptations.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
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| Dates Offered: |
November through February |
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The Ox-Cart Man (Preschool-Grade 3)
The story of a 19th-century family comes alive as our museum educator brings a cart full of objects for students to see and touch. Based on The Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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Quilt Story (Preschool-Grade 3)
Our museum educator uses quilts to bring to life the touching story of a 19th-century girl and her quilt. Based on The Quilt Story written by Tony Johnston and illustrated by Tomie dePaola.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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Small Folks (Preschool-Grade 3)
Your students can learn what a typical day was like for children more than a century ago through hands-on activities using 19th-century objects and clothing.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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19th-Century Games (Grades 2-12)
Who doesn’t love playing with the simple toys of yesterday? Students are encouraged to try jackstraws, cup-and-ball, the whimmy-diddle, buzz saw and much more. Those who like a challenge can try to identify the strategies involved in each game and the physics principles that underlie each toy. The program also provides topics for discussing and/or writing about resource use, the purpose of play, and the comparison of how a young person’s time was – and is – split among work, school and play. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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19th-Century Music (Grades 2-12)
All music in the 19th century was live and unplugged. With the guidance of a museum educator, your students will learn about musical instruments available in the 19th century, including the American reed organ, autoharp and pennywhistle, and they will discover the social and historical contexts of familiar patriotic songs and folk songs from America and abroad.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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19th-Century Dance (Grades 3-12)
In the 19th century, dancing was a great form of physical exercise as well as a good opportunity for social interaction. Your students will learn some dance steps and then try them out to 19th-century music.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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19th-Century Fashion (Grades 7-12)
Costuming is an integral interpretive tool at Genesee Country Village & Museum. In this program, we bring you a sampling of 19th-century clothing styles along with explanations of the origins and functions of costume elements. The program can be customized to suit your specific needs and time frame and may be requested in either a lecture format or as a fashion show. Pricing reflects the number of models and program length.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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Play Ball! (Grades 3-12)
Using America’s national pastime as a tool for teaching, a museum base ball player in 19th-century uniform engages your students in the history, culture, and strategies of stick-and-ball games. Specific activities are tailored to grade level and to whether the program is conducted indoors or outside.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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Quilting (Grades 3-12)
Making a quilt was a way to help keep a 19th-century family warm, and it was also a means for artistic self-expression. Learning about quilts is a way to understand more about 19th-century American life, art, design, communication and even geometry. Our quilter shares 19th-century quilt patterns and demonstrates how quilts are put together. Students learn the importance and origins of quilting and how quilted items were used for a variety of purposes. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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The Tinsmith (Grades 3-12)
In this inquiry-based program, our Genesee Country tinsmith brings some of his shiny wares as well as the tools he uses to make them so your students can see both process and result. Students are challenged to figure out how this technology was employed to solve specific problems and meet particular needs. The tinsmith also shares insights into his role in early American economies and compares it to that of his 21st-century counterpart – the hardware store.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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The Little Red Schoolhouse (Grades 4-8)
Let us turn your classroom into a 19th-century oneroom schoolhouse. Our museum educator reminds students of the rules of discipline while guiding them through their lessons. They are asked to engage in cooperative learning, practice their penmanship, use a slate and read stories from a McGuffey reader.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4, 5 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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The General Store (Grades 4-12)
Armed with 19th-century wares and dry goods for your inspection, our storekeeper introduces your students to this uniquely American institution that gave flavor and personality to 19th-century villages. Your students learn about the general storekeeper’s multifaceted role in the community and how the store contributed to an area’s settlement. Modifiable to meet your students’ particular needs, the program is an engaging way to learn about world wide trade, household and business economics, pricing systems, profit margins and customer service – 19th-century style. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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Objects from History (Grades 4-12)
Our museum educator brings unusual and everyday objects from the 19th century to your classroom. Students have the opportunity to examine the objects and discover on their own how people devised technological solutions to meet their specific needs. This program provides ample opportunities to compare the tools and constructs of the past with those of today, and is an excellent starting point for further research.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 4 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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Wildlife of the Genesee Country (Grades 4-12)
A visit from our museum naturalist helps your students learn about the animals native to the Genesee Country and how and why wildlife populations changed with the advent of Euro-American settlement. This history-based nature program provides students with plenty of opportunities to examine animal skulls, bones and skins as well as live specimens.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3 |
| Dates Offered: |
November through February |
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A Slave’s Narrative (Grades 5-12)
Step back in time to witness an 1841 encounter between escaped slave and abolitionist William Wells Brown and a printer sympathetic to his cause. Will the printer publish Brown’s memoirs, Narrative of William W. Brown, an American Slave? The audience learns that while there are extreme risks associated with the abolitionist stance, none is as great as the risks taken by slaves to claim their freedom. The performance is followed by a question-and-answer session. Suitable for groups in a small assembly format. |
| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3, 5 |
| Dates Offered: |
Limited Availability |
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History in the Kitchen (Grades 7-12)
A museum cook shows how she uses 19th-century cookbooks, household inventories, diaries, and letters to recreate menus of the past and to understand how people prepared, stored and served their food. She brings receipts (recipes) as well as examples of cookware and other kitchen utensils to illustrate this most “tasteful” approach to learning about the past.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1, 3 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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The Language of Flowers (Grades 7-12)
Learn about one of the most enchanting customs of the 19th century–communicating through flowers instead of words. From the four-leaf clover to the red rose, each was used to communicate a specific thought or feeling. Our museum educator brings examples of flowers and engages your students in making 19th-century-style tussie mussies (bouquets).
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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Victorian Yuletide (Grades 7-12)
Festive seasonal decorating flourished in Victorian America, and preparations began months in advance. Using historical documentation reflecting the cultural origins of various Victorian holiday traditions, a museum educator facilitates your students’ recreation of the spirit and charm of 19th-century yuletide celebrations.
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| NYS Standards Met: |
SS1 |
| Dates Offered: |
Year Round |
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