Calling all educators!

Haven’t been to Old Sturbridge Village since your own 3rd grade field trip? Take this opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the museum and all it has to offer. 

Join us for an open house on Saturday, October 4. Learn more about OSV’s field trip options, from self-guided visits to hands-on workshops. Sign up for a workshop yourself and explore how our offerings fit with your curriculum and how you can tailor a visit to OSV to suit your students’ needs.  Pre-registration is required, see below for details.

• Enjoy snacks and mulled cider by the fire at Museum Education
• Explore OSV’s program options for schools and youth groups with education staff
• Learn how OSV is celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence through workshops, tours, and civics programs. 
• Take home self-guided materials, craft instructions, and lesson plans to use with your students 
• If a field trip to the Village isn’t possible, learn more about our outreach options to have educators come to you. 
• See if there is grant funding available to bring your students to the Village! 
• Be entered into a raffle to win OSV-made goods, classroom visits, and activity packs 

This teacher open house day is free for educators and one guest. All workshops will take place at the Museum Education building. The Village is open from 9:30 to 5:00. Pre-registration is required; see below for details. 

Questions? Please email Liz O’Grady, Director of Museum Education, Field Trip and Youth Programs, at [email protected], or call (508) 347-0287.

How to sign up:

• First, register to attend the Teacher Open House here.
• Sign up for one or more hands-on workshops at the links below!

Hands-On Workshops

Hearth cooking

Sign up for 10:00

Sign up for 11:00

Sign up for 1:00 

During this workshop, students work together to make a sweet treat over an open hearth. Led by a museum educator, students make a snack using 19th-century recipes (or receipts, as they were known in the 1830s). Participants read and interpret the recipe, measure ingredients, and get hands-on cooking experience. While the snack is cooking, educators orient students to 19th-century foodways and compare and contrast with their lives today. In honor of the 250th, try out a receipt from America’s first cookbook, American Cookery, by Amelia Simmons. 

Print

Sign up for 10:00

Sign up for 1:00

In the 1830s, printers held a very important role in their communities. Printing books, newspapers, invitations, and broadsides, printers played a vital role in the communication of information in the Revolutionary War era and in the decades following. In this workshop, participants will explore the printing through few hands-on activities related to the printed word. Museum educators guide students through paper marbling, quill pen writing, and using a printing press. Younger students may use slates for writing and block prints for printing. 

Textiles

Sign up for 10:00

Sign up for 11:00 

Participants in the textile workshop walk through the steps of wool processing, from the shearing of sheep to weaving fabric. The 1830s were a time of great technological and industrial change in America. Even in Sturbridge, where sheep outnumbered people, several textile factories popped up along the rivers to speed up the textile-making process. Museum educators instruct students in several hands-on tasks–carding wool, trying out a spinning wheel, and weaving on a loom–while discussing the transition of homespun goods following the Revolutionary War to textile factories during the Industrial Revolution. 

Fall Farm and Garden

Sign Up for 10:00

Sign Up for 11:00 

For many people, daily life in rural New England revolved around the farmer’s year. In an area like Sturbridge, most families had at least a small farm or garden. Participants in this workshop will try out several agriculture or horticulture activities related to the farmer’s year. In the fall, explore two important tasks for harvest season: converting apples to cider, and processing dried corn into cornmeal. 

Mini, 60-minute Tour of the Village

Sign up for 1:00

Join an educator on a short tour of some of the highlights of the Old Sturbridge Village campus. Learn more about available tour themes and the ways that a guided tour of the museum can be used to enhance your curriculum.