| Education ProgramsWe offer a variety of programs, visits and resource materials students of all ages. Our school programs are also available to home school groups, Girl Scout troops, recreation depa rtments, libraries and other community organizations. School ToursSchools who wish to visit the Museum may select from four tours: Colonial Days in Vermont, 19th Century Child's Life, Maps to the Past and Walking Tour of Middlebury. Each tour is one and a half to two hours in length (Tuesday or Wednesday only). The topics are presented through lectures, period music, videos, tours of the Judd-Harris house and visits to the Stewart Swift Research Center. All school visits include a hands-on component. Topics may be customized to work with your curriculum. Prices and details for the tours are listed below. Schedules and PricesRegular School Tours $4.00 per student includes 2-3 chaperones free, minimum 10 students per group, maximum 24 students per group. Special project requests: $6.00 per student. No younger siblings please. Colonial Days in Vermont - Grades K- 5
Perfect for classes studying the early settlement of Vermont, changing culture and children’s lives in colonial America. The program includes a tour of the historic Judd-Harris House, colonial dress-up and your choice of one other activity:Early Settlers Work and Play , Quilting or Butter Churning.
 19th Century Child’s Life - Grades 3-6
Learn about the everyday life of 19th century Vermont children. Examine real clothing from the times and tour the historic Judd-Harris House. Hands-on projects include making copy books and writing with quill pens. Groups may participate in an old fashioned school lesson or choose to use 19th century toys and games.
Maps to the Past - Grades 3 & up
Visit the Stewart-Swift Research Center to view some of the Museum’s large collection of local maps. Use copies of historic maps to learn map skills and to see how your town has changed over time. Groups will make large scale wall maps of their town based on early maps in the Museum collection.
Walking Tour of Middlebury - Grades 4 & up
(available seasonally)
Learn about the early settlers and businesses of Middlebury, shire-town of Addison County. Students will follow the “Middlebury History Trail” map through the town while a costumed Museum guide uses reproduction artifacts, maps and local anecdotes to tell the story of early Middlebury. Special attention will be paid to the development around the falls at Otter Creek. Students should be prepared for the weather. Bring a snack and a drink. Learning KitsThe Henry Sheldon Museum kits are an excellent resource on Vermont heritage filled with books, artifacts, audio-visual materials and reproduction items. All kits align with the Vermont Framework of Standards and address a wide variety of learning styles.
Rental fee: $25.00 for two weeks. - Settling Vermont: Frontier Life in the Grants • Grades 4-6
Follow the road Addison County’s pioneers traveled to statehood. Study patterns of settlement and the emergence of Vermont with historic maps. Explore the challenges of “making a pitch” in the Vermont frontier. Reproduction clothing and artifacts demonstrate everyday life in the 18th century. (Standards: 1.8, 2.2, 2.6, 4.5, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 7.7)
- Local Heroes: Vermont’s Role in the Revolution Grades 4-6
Discover Addison County’s role in the American Revolution. Meet the local men and women who helped change the tide of history. Explore the role Vermont played as a battleground in our nation’s fight for independence.
(Standards: 4.5, 6.1, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.10, 6.15, 6.20, 6.25)
- Moving to Vermont/The Music of Immigration • Grades K-6
Learn about the many different immigrant groups that made up the Vermont culture from Colonial settlement times through the 19th century. Recordings, lyrics, instruments, maps and immigration history make this a fascinating kit.
(Standards: 5.3, 6.1-6.8, 6.13, 6.15, 6.19)
- Architecture • Grades 4-8
Explore early buildings, materials, tools and construction techniques. Learn to identify architectural elements and styles. (Standards: 4.5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.8, 5.28, 6.6, 6.7, 6.14)
- Games and Toys • Grades K-4
Rings, graces, hoops, marbles and other games illustrate leisure activities of the past. Explore the outdoor and parlor games played by 19th century children.
(Standards: 3.13, 6.6, 6.14)
 - Holiday Traditions • Grades K-4
Trace the origins of Christmas traditions, foods, decorations and preparations. Compare these with seasonal holidays in other cultures. (Standards: 1.4, 4.3, 5.8, 6.3)
- Quilts • Grades K-4
A sewing kit, quilt pieces, stories about quilts and quilt pattern books introduce the shapes, patterns and geometry of quilting. Learn how quilts tied families and communities together.
(Standards: 1.4, 5.8, 5.24, 6.6, 6.14, 7.7)
- 9th Century Itinerant Artist • Grades 4-6
Discover the life of an artist traveling from town to town with his tools of the trade. Learn what clues to our past are pictured in the paintings.
(Standards: 5.1, 6.6)
- People of the Dawnland • Grades K-6
Use reference books, traditional stories, oral histories, audio and video materials, maps, photographs, artifacts and activities to explore the history and culture of Vermont’s Native Americans. (Standards: 1.4, 4.4, 4.5, 5.8, 6.3, 6.4, 6.6, 6.8, 6.10, 6.12, 6.13, 6.14, 6.15)
- Homespun • Grades K-4
Examine the sheep industry in Vermont and its impact on our history. Fleece, carders, drop spindles and shuttles demonstrate how woven clothes were made at home.
(Standards: 1.4, 4.5, 6.4)
- The Circus • Grades K-6
Travel back to the 19th century through the entertainment of that era. This kit contains posters, videos, articles, books, primary sources, lesson plans and more to help your class explore 19th century entertainment.
(Standards: 6.5, 7.1,7.2, 7.3, B.1.b, B.1.d)
- Kitchen Life • Grades K-6
Learn about the busy life of a colonial kitchen. The kit is filled with kitchen tools and utensils, cookbooks and a variety of hands-on activities to give students a taste of Colonial New England kitchen life. Includes instructions for butter-making, candle dipping and drying fruit.
(Standards: 6.1, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 5.13.b)
 19th Century Child’s Life • Grades 3-6
What was it like to be a child in the 1800s? Investigate the world of the 19th century child through books, games, clothing, toys and photographs of the era.
(Standards: 6.1, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 5.13.b)
- Vermonters in the Civil War • Grades 5-12
Meet many of the Vermonters who fought in America’s Civil War. Learn about Vermont’s role in the American Civil War by studying the State’s social and political development. Use books, photographs, rosters, newspapers and copies of early abolitionist documents to bring this story to life in your classroom. From paper dolls and playing cards, reproduction clothing and copies of primary documents, letters and maps from the Henry Sheldon Museum Collection, this kit is a must for Vermont teachers. (Standards: 1.8, 1.18, 1.19, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.12, 6.14, 7.6, 7.9)
- From the Land to the Lake • Grades 4-12
The Henry Sheldon Museum’s first online learning kit, offers web access to articles, lessons, primary source materials and other resources supporting a place-based curriculum focused on the historical relationships between people and water in the Champlain Valley. A complete classroom kit is also available.
Outreach ProgramsThe Museum comes to your school!
Outreach Fee: $75.00 per program plus mileage for schools outside Addison County. - People of the Dawnland - Grades K - 6
People of the Dawnland examines Native American artifacts from Addison County. Use maps, music, artifacts and games to learn about pre-contact Abenaki life in Vermont. Students will listen to Abenaki music, make an artifact identification book and use materials from daily Native American life to learn about the culture of Vermont’s earliest human residents.
- Colonial Times in Vermont - Grades K - 6
Use artifacts, maps and reproduction artifacts to discover how and why settlers from Massachusetts, Connecticut and other New England States made their homes in the Green Mountain territory. Dress in colonial style costumes, churn butter or sew your own four-patch quilt block.
- Maps to the Past - Grades 3 - 6
Use copies of Henry Sheldon Museum collection maps to learn map skills and the history of your town! Students will work with maps from the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries to learn the history of their town and see the changes that civilization has brought. Each class will examine many different kinds of maps and make two large wall maps of their town: one current map and one from 1871! This program has it all - geography, history, cultural change and hands-on map making!
- Moving to Vermont: The Music of Immigration -- Grades K-12
Listen to the music of the major immigrant groups who settled in Vermont from the 1750s through the early 20th century. Learn why they chose Vermont as their new home and about the kinds of skills they brought with them. This program combines slides of maps and artifacts from the Museum with live and recorded music. Classes may dress in costumes, or choose a map activity.
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One of Vermont’s premier collections of furniture, paintings, documents
The Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History