History Time

A Newsletter for Kansas Educators

August 2023

Free Educational Resources - Always

August is upon us and that means teachers are planning field trips and curriculum. Although the Kansas Museum of History remains closed through this upcoming school year, our education team continues to produce exciting resources for teaching students about the great state of Kansas! We offer interesting ways to learn historical thinking skills, how to ask questions about the past, and to study history from multiple perspectives. We have so many ways to enhance your curriculum!

BOOK IT:

Rural School Days in our one-room 1920s Stach School is available for bookings! We offer a one-hour and a four-hour program, which allows students to compare daily life of 1920 and today.

Traveling Resource Trunks are a great way to learn through reproductions, activities, and lessons about Kansas topics. Book early so dates work with your curriculum.

The State Capitol offers guided tours. Self-guided brochures are available for those who want to explore on their own.

EXPLORE IT:

Check out our educational YouTube channel which provides short clips for students, videos that can accompany a Read Kansas! lesson, and video tours recorded in our exhibits gallery.

Our Nearpod lessons are fun, interactive, and free! If you have your own Nearpod account, email us for an editable version of our lessons.

Enrichment activities and make and take projects enhance many topics.

Our award-winning Read Kansas! Lesson plans are always available online or by mail. They meet teaching standards for all grade levels.

KansasMemory.org brings history alive through primary sources. Teach students to research and read primary sources by using our online resources. It's a perfect resource for History Day projects!

Make and Take: Buffalo Stick Puppet

The American Bison, or buffalo, is the official state mammal for Kansas. These large animals have been an important feature of the Plains for centuries. Learn about the history of buffalo in Kansas while making this craft. Use the craft as an opportunity to learn about wildlife conservation efforts and the near extinction of bison in the United States. For a more hands-on experience, check out our “Uses of the Buffalo” traveling trunk to discover how Indigenous people utilized the bison as a resource.

Standards Based Activity:

Kansas Settlers Read-along Video

HGSS Standard #4: Societies experience continuity and change over time

This primary grade focused read-along is a great introductory lesson that explores life for those who called Kansas home during the state's first fifty years of settlement. These early Kansas settlers lived on farms and in towns. They came to Kansas by wagon, boat, and train. They worked, played, and went to school. They had the opportunity to both shop for what they needed or make it themselves. Learn about the lives of these people through this read-along, and then have your students compare this with their lives today.

Museum Renovation:

Timeline vs Storyline

Early in the planning for the museum’s renovation a decision needed to be made whether to present Kansas history chronologically or thematically. The pros and cons for each made the decision difficult.

The same question arose in the 1980s when the Kansas Museum of History first opened. The answer at that time was a chronological gallery that wound from American Indians in the centuries before the 1803 Louisiana Purchase to the 1980s with stops along the way for Bleeding Kansas, the train, and other points of interest.

History museum exhibits place artifacts in historical and cultural context. They allow visitors to use critical thinking skills as they explore. The strengths that make chronological exhibits good at illustrating static points in time do not provide the flexibility to easily show continuity and change over time, that choices have consequences; and that relationships between people, places, ideas and environments are dynamic. The strength of these as social studies teaching standards were some of the key factors in deciding that the new exhibits at the Kansas Museum of History will be thematic rather than chronological. We can't wait to take your students on a tour!

Professional Development

Kansas Historical Society Educational Resources

Are you having difficulties locating resources to teach Kansas history in your classroom? Book a free virtual session with Assistant Director of Education and Outreach, Trae Johnson, to learn the ins and outs of kshs.org, find award-winning lesson plans, and locate over 730,000 primary sources. Instructional coaches, curriculum specialists, and teachers can email Trae at trae.johnson@ks.gov to schedule a session.

Don't Forget!

KSHS eNews provides information on events, programs, updates on the museum renovation, and highlights a variety of state historic sites.

The Kansas Museum of History is closed for renovations. Although the museum is not available for field trips, our staff is here for you.

State Capitol Visitors Center offers guided tours. Self-guided brochures are available for those who want to explore on their own.

State Historic Sites now have free admission! Look for one in your area. Call ahead as some are only open seasonally.

Kansas Educator Poster Bundle

(12 Total)