One-Room Schoolhouse Living History Program The Brown County Historical Society would like to make you aware of our new one-room schoolhouse program. This program has been created using third grade curriculum but can be modified to other grade levels. Our program is designed to provide a class of 20 or less students with a unique opportunity to experience history by participating in a rural one-room schoolhouse in the setting of the early 1900’s. Your class will meet in a schoolhouse replica of District #40 Grand Prairie, which was established in 1869 and was located northeast of Powhattan.
The goal of our program is to give students the opportunity to participate in a class that uses similar methods and an environment of learning that was typical to a rural one- room schoolhouse. You and your students will start your day with a short walk to the schoolhouse. Students can also add to the experience by wearing clothing items similar to what kids would have worn during this time period. We have created lesson plans that will have you teaching your students in both a full class setting and in small groups to help simulate a typical day at school. Your students will participate in lessons using textbooks and materials similar to that which students from the rural school days would have used. Students will try their hand at using slates and slate pencils for some lessons, and for other lessons they will find a copybook useful. The copybook will be a souvenir for the students and can also serve as a project for your class before your trip to the one-room schoolhouse.
As indicated earlier, this program is designed using curriculum for the third grade level, but can be modified for other levels with notification. It is our goal that this program meets more than just a history standard. The lesson plans that you can use to teach from are aligned to meet Kansas State Board of Education standards. Your students will be doing real class work to meet current standards in a historical manner and in a historical setting. The program has a fee of $100 for a class to attend and the schoolhouse has desks for twenty students, but arrange- ments can be made for a few more students. To schedule your day, please contact Eric at 785-742-3330 or by e-mail, bchsdirector@yahoo.com, to get your date marked on the calendar. (A little note, fall and spring would be better to try andparticipate in this program due to the lack of heat and air-conditioning in the schoolhouse.)Once a class has scheduled a date to participatein the one- room schoolhouse program, you will receive apacket with more detailed information for the day and things to do before your visit. If you would like to take a look at a Teacher's Packet click on the link below.