Specialty Programs

Have your students see what life would have been like in the Mali Empire using our one-of-a-kind West African exhibit. This program offers students the opportunity to hear the storytelling of Mali’s griots, trade in an open-air market, listen to traditional West African music, and take part in an interactive geography lesson. This program takes place exclusively on the West African exhibit.

Virginia Standards of Learning: 3.1 3.4 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.13 VS.1 VS.4 USI.1 USI.4 WHI.1 WHI.12

People in the past were far more active than most Americans today. This program engages students in historic outdoor games and work activities at various exhibits. This program supports Physical Education Standards. Choose a combination of Old World and American Exhibits.

Virginia Standards of Learning: K.1 K.4 1.1 1.4 2.1 2.4 3.1 3.4 4.1 4.4 5.1 5.4 6.1 6.4 7.1 7.4 8.1 8.4

Discover the transfer of plants, animals, culture, people, disease, technology, ideas, and more that took place after the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus. This program takes place on the West African exhibit, Eastern Woodlands Indian exhibit, 1850s American exhibit, and your choice of one of the following: English, Irish, or German exhibit.

Virginia Standards of Learning: K.1 K.9 1.1 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.1 2.8 2.9 2.10 3.1 3.8 3.9 3.10 VS.1 VS.3 VS.4 USI.1 USI.4 USI.5 WG.1 WG.4 WG.15 WG.16 WG.17 WHII.1 WHII.3 WHII.4 WHII.5 WHII.8 WHII.9

Learn how Christmas was celebrated in the Old World and Early America and how the celebration has changed over time. Students wassail in England, Knock in Germany, and Belsnickle in America. This program is offered only in the month of December on the English, German, 1820s American, and 1850s American exhibits.

Managing money in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries was much different than today. Learn how farmers in the Old World bought, sold, and traded to get the goods and services they needed. Investigate why the children of those farmers decided to leave the old world for economic gains. Explore early forms of currency in America as well as continued buying, trading, and selling. Choose any combination of exhibits at the Museum.

This program supports Civics & Economics and Economics & Personal Finance Standards of Learning

Do you want your students to truly appreciate how good they have it in your classroom? A session at the Museum’s Early American Schoolhouse is just what they need. This add-on enrichment option features a brief history of education in early America and invites students to compare life at their school to that of the early nineteenth century. This add-on includes basic lessons from early American textbooks led by the “schoolmaster.” This enrichment option is located in our American Schoolhouse.

Explore early America’s musical heritage through live performance with the Museum’s own musicians. Students and teachers listen and learn as our musicians reveal the wide-ranging cultural influences that blended together to form the music of early America. Students learn the songs and dances of our ancestors and become part of the performance.Choose from the following exhibits for a one of a kind experience: West African, English, Irish, 1760s American, 1850s American.

This program supports many Music Standards of Learning.