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Grant Boosts Banke History for Kids

towncrierlogoHEAR YE! HEAR YE!

October 2010 --  How do you teach elementary school children about what life was really like for Americans who lived long ago? At Strawbery Banke Museum, 1st through 3rd grade students experience history first hand in the NH History Explorers program, which was just selected by the Association of Historical Society's of New Hampshire for a 2010 Public Education award. (Read more below) 

 

Last school year, 1100 children participated in the program, many from underserved schools in NH. Thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Strawbery Banke educators will be able to offer the program to four elementary schools in Nashua, Rochester and Manchester in 2011-schools that would otherwise not be able to afford the cost of transportation and tuition.   

"The museum's unique educational programming brings to life the history of New Hampshire and complements classroom learning," said John Weeks, Bank of America New Hampshire president. "This grant reflects a shared commitment to the development of our students, many of whom may not otherwise have the opportunity to visit Strawbery Banke Museum."  

The three-hour NH History Explorers program consists of a series of five lessons built around experiential learning activities.  Utilizing the historic buildings on the museum's campus, children compare and contrast their lives with those of children who lived long ago by engaging in such activities as churning their own butter, grinding spices, and even riding a simulated stagecoach to find out how people traveled 200 years ago. 

Feedback from teachers and school administrators who have participated in the program is overwhelmingly positive. One assistant principal wrote, "Thank you for providing such an enjoyable field trip for our 2nd graders. We are so thankful that we were able to participate through the grant that was set up during the month of March. The teachers and parents were extremely complimentary of your program as well, so I wanted to share a few quotes with you: 'Two thumbs-up!' 'The activities were fun and informative, particularly because they were broken into smaller groups so there was a lot of individualized attention.' 'We'd like to go next year!'  

Another school wrote to the museum saying, "I wanted to let you know that our 3rd grade team all came back raving about their trip today.  They enjoyed the hands-on nature of each experience and they all said the students loved it!  I am thankful that this opportunity was made available." Thanks to Bank of America Foundation's generosity, the NH History Explorers Program at Strawbery Banke Museum will be able to introduce many more children to this extraordinary hands-on historical learning experience.

Strawbery Banke Museum is unique among outdoor history museums, tracing 375 years of history in one of America's oldest continuously occupied neighborhoods. The 10-acre site, with its authentically-restored houses and shops, period gardens, and costumed role players, presents the daily lives of ordinary people who lived in the neighborhood - from pre-Colonial times to World War II, from the simple to the elegant, from economic boom to war-time austerity - in engaging and accessible ways. As an educational leader in the Seacoast area and beyond, Strawbery Banke Museum is committed to exposing as many school children and their teachers as possible to living history using the unique collections and historic resources available at the museum.

Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy

Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, last year Bank of America embarked on a new, ten-year goal to donate $2 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods. Bank of America approaches investing through a national strategy called "neighborhood excellence" under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Bank associate volunteers contributed more than 800,000 hours in 2009 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit their Web site.

 

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