Tours & Programs for English Language Arts

 

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English Language Arts

The ability to listen, speak, read and write well was as important in 19th-century American life as it is today, and opportunities for your students to develop these skills in an engaging environment are plentiful throughout Genesee Country Village & Museum. Our programs offer many opportunities for reading and listening for facts and ideas, and your students' experiences in the 19th century can form the basis for back-in-the-classroom written analysis and oral presentations.

The John L. Wehle Art Gallery offers yet more changes for observing and reflecting as students view masterworks by some of the world's finest wildlife artists. The gallery's Southwest collection likewise stimulates analysis of cultures and environments as well as different points in time.

The Genesee Country Nature Center is a wonderful resource for connecting to nature and to the 19th-century literature that focused on people's relationship with the natural environment. Its quiet trails through varied habitats provide inspiration for reflective writing, or for short reports, journal writing or persuasive essays once you return to the classroom.

NYS Learning Standards:

ELA1: Language for Information and Understanding
ELA2: Language for Literary Response and Expression
ELA3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
ELA4: Language for Social Interaction


Self-Guided Tours
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: ELA1, 4
Dates Offered: Mid-May through mid-October, Tuesdays – Fridays
   
Enrichment Options:  
Long May It Wave (Grades 4-8)
In this educator-led tour of our exhibit, Long May It Wave: The Story of Our Star-Spangled Banner, students learn about the history and surprising global connections of the ultimate symbol of American pride – our country’s flag. Students also design and produce their own banners using guidelines similar to those provided by Congress in 1777.
NYS Standards Met: ELA1, 2, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring
   
Nature Journaling (Grades 3-12)
Join nature center staff for a fun and relaxing afternoon full of nature journaling activities including writing, drawing and collaborative journaling. Explore the natural world in a different way and discover new things about nature and yourself. We will supply paper and pencils, or students may bring their own journals and preferred writing/drawing supplies.
NYS Standards Met: ELA1, 2
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring – afternoons only

 

Museum Educator-Guided Tours of the Historic Village
Take a specially designed tour of the 19h century with a museum educator. Each guided tour is approximately two hours long, and content is adaptable for your specific grade level. Students will be divided into grops of about 20 each, and groups will rotate among the historic structures.
 
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: ELA1, 4
Dates Offered: Early May and late October, Tuesdays-Fridays
   
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: ELA1, 4
Dates Offered: Early May and late October, Tuesdays-Fridays
   
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: ELA1, 4
Dates Offered: Early May and late October, Tuesdays – Fridays (Additional dates available by special arrangement)

 

Focused Field Study
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.
   
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: ELA1, 2, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring
   
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: ELA1, 2, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring
   
Switchel, Cole Cannon and Pudding: Food 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: ELA1, 2, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring
   
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: ELA1, 4
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring
   
Life in the Burned-Over District: Church and Community in 19th-Century America (Grades 7-12)
This unit will explore some of the various religious groups that made the Genesee Country their home. Students will explore places of worship and learn about what each faith believed, how they were involved in the community, who belonged to the group, and what major forces were shaping the group at the time. Students will participate in an activity or demonstration that illustrates each group’s identity and beliefs. Throughout this experience, students will focus on similarities and differences and how diversity created a vibrant community.
NYS Standards Met: ELA1, 4
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring

 

Outdoor Science Programs at Genesee Country Nature Center

Finding Your Way (Grades 4-12)
Through the use of compass, simple math, problem-solving skills, trail signs and basic plant and animal knowledge, your students will travel around the nature center trails discovering the diverse ecosystems found on Flint Hill. The program begins with an introduction to compass use and a practice session. Then each group is given a set of clues and riddles leading them to a specific area, geared to their grade level. As the group follows their clues, they will answer questions by the guiding naturalists to continue on their journey. After solving the clues and finding their way, the class will divide into smaller groups and write their own clues for their classmates. The students will then undertake a second journey created by their fellow students.
NYS Standards Met: ELA1
Dates Offered: Year Round

 

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.
 

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.
NYS Standards Met: ELA1, 4
Dates Offered: Year Round
   
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: ELA1, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

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.
NYS Standards Met: ELA1, 2, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Year Round
   
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: ELA1, 2, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Year Round
 

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.
NYS Standards Met: ELA1, 2, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Year Round
   
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: ELA1, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Limited Availability
 

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.
NYS Standards Met: ELA1, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Year Round
 

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).
NYS Standards Met: ELA1, 2, 3, 4
Dates Offered: Year Round

 


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