Education Programs for Students Age 10 - 12 (Grade 4 to 6)

Education Programs

Education Programs for Students
 Age 10-12 (Grades 4 to 6)

Then One Day The Lights Came On (Temporarily Unavailable)
 Outdoors - Museum Village
(available March - October)

Did you know?  If your house didn't have electricity your house probably didn't have indoor plumbing! 

“Then One Day The Lights Came On" explores the lifechanging impact of rural electrification on agriculture and on everyday life in Delaware’s rural communities (1890 – 1960).  Students will discover  the many ways in which the availability of electricity helped to increase productivity, create efficiencies in labor, improve health and safety, advance communication, increase leisure time and enable the purchase of "creature comforts."  The program also examines ways in which hydropower and wind power was harnessed and used, then and now. 

Activity stations:  Silver Lake Mill - hydropower concepts; Village windmill – wind power concepts; General Store – electric appliances and refrigeration; Farmhouse – electricity's impact on everyday life; Barn – electricity's impact on farming
Delmarvelous Poultry and Dairy (Temporarily Unavailable)
 Indoors - Main Exhibit Hall
                                                                        (available year-round)

Did you know?  Poultry is Delaware’s top agricultural product. Dairy is among the state’s top
 five agricultural products. 

"Delmarvelous Poultry and Dairy" begins in the Museum’s new poultry exhibit where students learn about poultry farming in Delaware. Highlights include egg candling, the “Birth of the Broiler Industry” the story of the Delaware farmwife who launched a multi-billion dollar industry, and modern broiler house operations.  Next, students travel to the “Dairying in Delaware Exhibit” where they learn about dairy cows, the history of dairy farming in Delaware and modern dairy farming operations.

Activities:  (1) egg candling; (2) weighing chickens; (3) milking mock cow; (4) making butter

        Growing Winter Wheat - The Power of Flour (Temporarily Unavailable)

                                        Indoors - Main Exhibit Hall / Outdoors - Museum Village

                                                                     (available year-round)


Did you know? Wheat is the most widely grown food crop in the world. 


The importance of wheat farming is explored in “Growing Winter Wheat – the Power of Flour”. As they explore the Museum’s collection of early hand tools and various 19th and 20th century farm machines, students learn about the process farmers used to grow wheat in Delaware over 100 years ago vs. modern farming operations.  Students then visit the Museum’s historic village, Silver Lake Mill, where they learn how wheat kernels are ground into flour and used to make a variety of foods. 


Activities:  (1) "Jeopardy” farm machine game;  (2) grinding wheat berries and sifting flour


 

 Produce - Delaware Grown (Temporarily Unavailable)

                                               Indoors - Main Exhibit Hall / Outdoors - Museum Village

                                                                           (available year-round)

Did you know?  Lima beans and watermelon are among the leading varieties of produce grown in Delaware today. 


"Produce - Delaware Grown" begins in the Museum’s main exhibit hall where students learn about the different types of fruits and vegetables grown in Delaware and the important contribution produce farmers make to the state’s economy.  Students explore various machines in the Museum’s  collection that were used to process produce and how processing techniques have evolved over time.   Students also visit the historic Reed General Store (ca 1873) in the Museum's village where they identify the different types of fresh, canned and dried produce for sale and discuss how it was processed and sold.


    Activities: (1) Fresh / processed produce and machine "Match Game"; (2) Produce Acrostic;  (3) Economics purchasing fresh / processed (incl. weights / measures)


Rural Economics (Temporarily Unavailable)
Outdoors - Museum Village / Indoors - Main Exhibit Hall
(available March thru October)

Did you know?:  In the 1950s and 60’s, poultry farmers on Delmarva sold their flocks of chickens at auction through the Eastern Shore Poultry Growers Exchange in Selbyville, DE. 

In "Rural Economics" students learn how people in rural communities used the barter system to obtain goods, the railroad to transport goods, and auctions to sell their goods.  Activity stations include the Museum's:  (1) train station where students calculate fares to various destinations as well as the cost of shipping goods; (2) general store where students barter and trade for goods with the storekeeper; and 3) the poultry exhibit where students buy and sell flocks of chickens.  
Then & Now 
Indoors - Main Exhibit Hall
(available year-round) 

Did you know?  Washing machines with gasoline powered motors were marketed to people living in rural areas of the U.S. in the 1930s and 1940s, many of whom had no electricity in their homes.  

Students learn about the many ways in which life was different for farmers and their families 100+ years ago as they explore exhibits and engage in educational activities in our main museum. Program highlights include:  the oldest log cabin in Delaware (ca. 1750), the identification and use of various household items and farm implements from the 19th - 20th centuries, egg production and dairy farming.

Activities: (1) What is it?; (2) Writing; (3) Milk a mock cow; (4) 19th century games; (5) Egg candling

Education Program Request Form 
Students Age: 10 - 12
Programs are offered Tuesday - Friday between the hours of 10am and 1pm
Program Length: 70-90 minutes
Base Fee: $75.00 (8 students) additional students $4.00 ea.
Advance Reservations are Required

We apologize for the limited selection of educational programs currently available. Our museum is undergoing exhibit renovations which will impact the quality of the unavailable programs. We will have these programs back as soon as possible.

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