Caption: Education director, Melissa Houston, right, facilitates a debate during a recent Colonial Life program among 4th graders from Hayestown Elementary School in Danbury about whether to join the Patriots or remain loyal to the Crown.
Keeler Tavern Museum& History Center (KTM&HC) is excited to announce the launch of the History @ Home online platform for teachers, students, and parents who are looking for digital resources for learning at home.
History @ Home comprises three units: Stories from Our Site; National Connections; and #HandsonHistory. Within each unit is a collection of digital lesson plans and activities that are content-based and inquiry-driven, featuring images, historical documents, and video from the KTM&HC collections.
“Our education team, led by education director, Melissa Houston, has been working hard over these past few weeks to transform our school programs into a digital format,” said Hildegard Grob, KTM&HC executive director. “We are beginning with our popular Colonial Life program as part of Stories from Our Site and will be updating weekly through the spring to add new content for at-home use.”
Colonial Life for Grades 3 – 5 features Timothy and Esther Keeler who first opened the house as a tavern before the American Revolution. “Students will ‘meet’ residents of our site from the 18th century to the early 20th century, examining how each family would have lived and worked and what that teaches about life throughout American history,” said Ms. Houston. “Just like our on-site programs, the goal is to truly bring history to life.”
The second unit, National Connections, will be for Grades 4 -12. It will use local history to illuminate national events such as The Battle of Ridgefield, the only inland battle in Connecticut during the American Revolution, a core curriculum at KTM&HC.
The third unit will take KTM&HC’s award-winning #HandsOnHistory exhibits and redesign them to offer STEM & STEAM learning digitally. From physics to geometry, chemistry to mathematics, STEM principles have informed how people live and work from the 18th century to the present.
“As a parent, museum educator, and former classroom teacher, I know we are ALL challenged during this pandemic to find engaging curriculum for students of all ages,” said Ms. Houston. “Teachers and parents will be able to utilize these complete lesson plans which include short reading assignments, object-based learning, and hands-on activities inspired by the stories of our historic site.”
All school programs and online learning units at KTM&HC support the C3 Frameworks for Social Studies, Connecticut Social Studies Frameworks, and Common Core Learning Standards. For more information about Colonial Life for Grades 3 – 5 program, visit https://keelertavernmuseum.org/education/history-at-home/ or email education@keelertavernmuseum.org.
KTM&HC tells 300 years of the town’s—and nation’s—history through the lives of its past residents. The 4-acre historic site, including the Visitor Center, Keeler Tavern Museum, Cass Gilbert-designed Walled Garden and Rose Arbor, Garden House, and Carriage Barn, is temporarily closed pursuant to state and local health guidelines for social distancing in the time of the coronavirus. Additional information about the site, including updates about programming and events, as well as renfatal of the Cass Gilbert-designed Garden House and Walled Garden, can be found at keelertavernmuseum.org., @KeelerTavernMuseum on Facebook and Instagram, and @KeelerTavern on Twitter.
