School Outreach Programs
Traveling Trunk: Artifacts Tell Stories
A set of lessons for 4th – 6th grades; 3 – 5 class periods
In this curriculum your students will explore the history of Washington through artifacts and images from the greater Gig Harbor area in the Harbor History Museum collection. Learning history through these items is valuable for students because it teaches them to examine carefully, look for evidence, use a variety of sources, understand chronology, explore different perspectives, and empathize with people of the past. Investigating artifacts and images also helps us learn how historians look at different kinds of evidence to uncover stories from history.
Trunk includes artifacts, images, books, and curriculum guide with lesson plan and additional activities.
Rental fee: $40 for the first week, $15 for each additional week.
Please contact Kate Dorr, Education Manager, at education@harborhistorymuseum.org with any questions or to reserve the trunk.
Classroom Presentations
From the History Detective Files… Artifact Investigation: The Case of the Yellow Vest
A one-hour in-class presentation for 3rd – 6th grades; any number of students
In this lesson, students will learn how artifacts tell stories through a projected presentation, class discussion, and partner activity. Starting with a simple object, students will proceed through a guided investigation process to explore evidence related to the artifact, such as photos, documents, articles, government records, and more. In the end, they will have a rich picture of a person’s life in a certain time and place. They will experience how historians investigate artifacts, ask questions, follow lines of inquiry, and find more information to tell a story of the past. They will then do an activity to investigate an artifact of their own with a partner.
Requirements: projector for computer, pencils and writing surface for students.
Fee: $100 per 40-60 minute presentation
Please contact Kate Dorr, Education Manager, at education@harborhistorymuseum.org with any questions or to book your visit.
Virtual Visits
Can’t come to the schoolhouse? Check out these sampler videos of Miss Bennett’s lessons with your class!
Opening Exercises: Welcome to Midway School https://www.harbormysterymuseum.org/post/visit-to-midway-schoolhouse-lesson-1-with-miss-bennett
Lesson 2: History and Reading https://www.harbormysterymuseum.org/post/visit-to-midway-schoolhouse-lesson-2-with-miss-bennett
Lesson 3: Penmanship, Arithmetic, and Music https://www.harbormysterymuseum.org/post/visit-to-midway-schoolhouse-lesson-3-with-miss-bennett
Virtual Midway School Experience
Experience a virtual version of our popular immersive field trip to school in 1915! While your students sit in their regular classroom, our schoolmarm will teach them directly from our 1893 Midway Schoolhouse. Over the course of an hour your students will engage in lessons and activities that take them back in time – learning through living history! At the end they will have the opportunity to ask questions about their experience and schooling of the past. For 3rd – 6th grades.
Virtual Artifact Exploration
Explore artifacts from daily life in the late 1800s and early 1900s – what clues will you find to help you uncover the story of the object? Our educator will guide your class to understand what artifacts are and how to examine them while showing students items from our collection. Students will learn how to look carefully at artifacts using good questions and critical thinking skills. They will learn about daily life in the past as well as how and why we preserve artifacts. Our virtual artifact exploration sessions are for 3rd – 12th grades and last 45 minutes.
Museum Expert Chats
Would a chat with an expert on local history enhance your social studies curriculum and engage your students? HHM is here for you! We are pleased to offer our staff for virtual classroom visits to share knowledge and answer questions on a variety of topics. See those below, but don’t hesitate to ask about others; we may be able to accommodate you.
Virtual visits are 30 minutes long and dependent on museum staff schedules. All grade levels welcome. (Bonus: for a career-focused chat we are happy to talk about our jobs!)
Topics
• The sx̌ʷəbabš, the Swift Water People, and
txʷaalqəł, the Place Where Game Exists – the
original residents of Gig Harbor and the HHM
site
• Peninsula settlers
• Settler life in the Pacific Northwest
• Education in the late 1800s and early 1900s
• Peninsula fishing industry
• Boat building
• Types of boats
• Local ferries
• Galloping Gertie
• Peninsula farming
• The HHM site: Donkey Creek, Peninsula
Light Co., Austin Mill
• Midway Schoolhouse
• Local crime history
• Local plants
• Artifact illustration
• Artifact collections and care
• Nonprofit management
• Nonprofit accounting
• Nonprofit marketing
• Museum education