Tours & Programs for Health, Physical Education and Family and Consumer Sciences

 

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Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Services

The museum offers an impressive array of resources relevant to the HPEFCS curriculum. After all, many issues of concern in the 21st-century have 19th-century parallels, and these are easily identifiable among the domestic and business settings in the museum’s historic village. The cooks in our working kitchens demonstrate the ways in which food was acquired, prepared and stored and they are happy to help students explore the nutritional value of 19th-century diets. The residents of every home are concerned with the efficient management of resources.

For sport and physical activity, the museum offers a 19th-Century Games program in which students are encouraged to try their skill at tabletop games as well as stilts, graces and running hoops. We are also home to the nation’s first replica 19th-century base ball park. School groups may use the park with advance arrangement.

The Genesee Country Nature Center offers five miles of themed trails that are ideal for walking and exploring. Letterboxing and outdoor nature activities are also offered as are cross-country skiing and snowshoeing during the winter months.

The John L. Wehle Art Gallery gives your students the chance to experience sport in a different way. It is internationally known for its collections of both American and European artworks depicting the sport of hunting and fishing.

NYS Learning Standards:

HPEFCS1: Personal Health and Fitness
HPEFCS2: A Safe and Healthy Environment
HPEFCS3: Resource Management

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: HPEFCS1, 2, 3
Dates Offered: Mid-May through mid-October, Tuesdays – Fridays
   
Enrichment Options:  
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: HPEFCS1, 2
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring
   
Architecture (Grades 7-12)
Genesee Country Village & Museum was originally founded as a museum of architecture. Buildings were carefully chosen from all over western New York for their architectural or historical significance and relocated to their present sites. Students will learn to recognize distinguishing characteristics of buildings in log house, salt-box, cobblestone, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian Italianate styles.
NYS Standards Met: HPEFCS2
Dates Offered: Fall and Spring

 

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: HPEFCS1, 2, 3
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: HPEFCS1, 2, 3
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: HPEFCS1, 2, 3
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.
   
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: HPEFCS1
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: HPEFCS1
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: HPEFCS1, 2, 3
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: HPEFC1
Dates Offered: Year Round

 

Focused Field Studies at Genesee Country Nature Center
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: HPEFCS1
Dates Offered: Mondays – Fridays in March

 

Seasonal Programs
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: HPEFCS1
Dates Offered: Mondays – Fridays in March
 

Wild Winter Quest (Grades K-12)
Students will explore the winter woods to look for animal tracks and signs, discover animal and plant winter survival adaptations, and the mysteries of hibernation. Program fee includes snack with hot beverage and choice of live animal show, snowshoeing trek, or outdoor winter games.
NYS Standards Met: HPEFCS1
Dates Offered: December through February

 

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 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: HPEFCS1, 2
Dates Offered: Year Round
 

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.
NYS Standards Met: HPEFCS1, 2
Dates Offered: Year Round
 

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.
NYS Standards Met: HPEFCS1, 3
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

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.
NYS Standards Met: HPEFCS1, 2
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

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.
NYS Standards Met: HPEFCS2, 3
Dates Offered: Year Round
   

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: HPEFCS1, 2, 3
Dates Offered: Year Round

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