Black Heritage Trail

Sarah Roberts (Grades 1 - 2)

Program Description:  On a walk following in the footsteps of Sarah Roberts, students will explore the Black Heritage Trail and learn about the struggle for equal education through the eyes of a fellow Boston student. Their program will conclude at the school Sarah attended, now the Museum of African American History, with a reading of The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial.

Theme & Topic: Civil Rights & Social Justice; Active Citizenship

Poetry in Place (Grades 3-5)

Program Description:  Students will explore the sites and stories associated with the historic abolitionist community of Beacon Hill’s North Slope through three distinct activities. At Boston Common, students will work together to solve a challenge in the spirit of the men who fought in the MA 54th regiment. Students will then explore the Black Heritage Trail (BHT), recalling historic sites and figures who stepped out to lead their community in the pursuit of positive change and social justice. They will finish their tour of the BHT by stepping into the African Meeting House, and will each read aloud a characteristic or quality of a robust community affecting positive change.  

Theme & Topic: Civil Rights & Social Justice; Active Citizenship; Slavery & Abolition

Charlestown Navy Yard

Life in the Yard (Grades 3 - 5)

Program Description: In partnership with the USS Constitution Museum, students explore the three groups of people who lived and worked in the Charlestown Navy Yard over its nearly 200 year operation. By examining historical images, students interpret primary resources which help to illustrate the lives of sailors, workers and families who called the working landscape home, if only for a short while.

Theme & Topic:  Reading Primary Sources / Documents, 

Boston Harbor Islands

Spectacle Island: Shore to Summit (Grades 5-6)

Program Description:  Students will explore Spectacle Island while participating in several activities that promote team building and a sense of community. Students will use Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to discuss images and hike to the summit of Spectacle Island’s south drumlin. Using historical images, observation skills and clues within the landscape, students work together to assemble a timeline of Spectacle Island’s modern history and explore the concept of community and how individuals can come together to create lasting change. Additionally, students engage in a team challenge where communication, trust and cooperation are reinforced and reflected upon.

Theme & Topic: Active Citizenship; Reading Primary Sources / Documents