Outreach Activities
Teachers, history club coordinators, and scout troop leaders:
The following 4th grade resources from the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board support the content of "Wisconsin Stories" episodes on Wisconsin Public Television. The lesson plans are adaptable to various grade levels. We encourage you to explore.
Some of these activities refer to publications available through the Wisconsin Historical Society's Office of School Services.
Many activities include PDF files (download Acrobat Reader).
2002 season | 2000-2001 season
- Visit festivals in Brussels, Hillsboro, Hurley and Thorp.
- Discover how citizens work together.
- Look at the state's geological and cultural diversity.
- Meet two Mexican-American migrant families who work and live in Wisconsin.
- People don't always move by choice. Learn why.
- Discover why and how people immigrated to Wisconsin.
- Explore the "push" and "pull" behind immigration.
- Learn about two very different schools.
- Discover how to become an historian while learning about life in a one-room schoolhouse.
- Understand that learning goes beyond school.
The Power
of Water
Learn about Ho-Chunk and Menominee cultures.
- Find out about Finnish co-ops in the CD's Explorer.
- Investigate how cooperatives began in Wisconsin.
- Learn about Ho-Chunk life along the Wisconsin River, then and now.
- Discover how people interact with their environment every day, in many ways.
- Explore Wisconsin's transportation history.
- Learn more about the mutually dependent relationship between people and the land.
- Explore elements of urban planning
- Learn how how to read maps
- Survey your community's architecture.
More Than a
Game
Explore new ways of thinking about culture and diversity beyond the issues
of race and ethnicity.
Making
History
Find activities related to agriculture, immigration, and music
- Organize a field trip to a local corn farm through a County Extension Agent
- Make cornhusk dolls based on illustrations from the mid-1900's
- Download maps and identify the crops that were originally grown in your county
- Learn about the experience and challenges of being an immigrant
- Creative musical activities for musicians and non-musicians!
The
H.H. Bennett Studio
Explore Wisconsin's photographic history and the Ho-Chunk Nation
- Plan a trip to the H.H. Bennett Studio & History Center in the Wisconsin Dells
- Enter a photocontest through Wisconsin Public Television
- Interview Ho-Chunk or Oneida photojournalists
Civil
War at Home
Experience the role that Wisconsin played in the Civil War
- Use primary and secondary documents to explore Wisconsin's role in the Underground Railroad
- Write a brief biography on Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, or John Brown
- Visit Forest Hill Cemetery or Camp Randall in Madison
- Examine the lists of soldiers at SHSW's online Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers
- Study a 1865 map of Camp Randall
- Recreate the mail hand-delivery system used during the Civil War in your classroom
Ports
of Call
Activities related to the Great Lakes and transportation
- Visit the State Historical Society's underwater
archeology Web site to see photos and streaming video of Wisconsin
shipwrecks - Visit the Sea Grant Web site for more pictures and video of shipwreck excavation sites on the floors of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan
- Download sample questions to help you explore how transportation in your community has changed over time
We're
Rockin'
Native American stone-working activities
- Download a series of documents to learn about ancient petroglyphs and explore Native American imagery
- Download activities and duplicate these ancient picture stories by making your own petroglyphs
- Initiate an archeological project! Download activities and quarry maps related to ancient spear points
Coping
With the Cold
Learn about Lacrosse, record storms, and the deepest snows
- Uncover the American-Indian contribution to Wisconsin history with a complete history lesson on snowshoes for 4th or 5th graders
- Research record-setting storms, the deepest snows, and the coldest temperatures in your town
- Interview cold-weather workers in your hometown
- Learn about ice harvesting and transport ice in a home-made insulated carrier!
In the
Mail
Learn more about stamps, mail carriers, and communication
- Talk about the significance of communication links--try a mail-fast and go a week without using any form of electronic communication
- Become a philatelist! Learn about stamp-collecting
- Additional links to the National Postal Museum and other stamp collecting activities
Frozen
Asset
Stories of Wisconsin and ice!
- Make a snow fort and print out directions on how-to build an igloo
- Organize a field trip on the Ice Age trail
- Make an edible glacier!
- Visit the National
Snow and Ice Data Center Web site for tons of info about
snow cover, avalanches, glaciers, ice and much more!
Native
Journeys
Explore Native American culture in Wisconsin.
- Learn about the Ojibwe roots of "Hide and Seek" and other Ojibwe games
- Learn about the Red Cliff band of Lake Superior Chippewa at the Great Lakes Intertribal Council Web site
- Download an Ojibwe comic book, songs, and teacher's guides from the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe Web site
Really
Big Stuff
Learn more about Wisconsin's really Big things.
- Visit Concrete Park near Phillips, Wisconsin.
- See more sculpture gardens through Wisconsin's Roadside Art Online.
- See what it's like inside a giant muskie. Calculate the size pole needed to catch a house-sized fish.
- Read Wisconsin's Built Environment.