School Visits
Shawnee Town 1929 introduces children to life in a small farm town in the 1920s through engaging, hands-on programs that meet 1st - 4th grade curriculum standards.
School visits are available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from Mid-March through May and Mid-September through October.
Review the program information and call today to set up your school visit to Shawnee Town
Location:
Shawnee Town Museum -
Map It
11501 W 57th Street
Shawnee KS 66203
Phone: (913) 742-5320
Fax: (913) 248-2363
If you have questions or want to book a program now, phone or e-mail
Sharron Uhler, Curator of Education at (913) 742-6423. Looking forward to working with you!
Reservations
Shawnee Town 1929 is open for school visits mid-March through October.
Phone
Sharron Uhler, Curator of Education, for reservations (913) 742-6423. The museum is closed on all public holidays observed by the City of Shawnee.
For school programs, prices are as follows:
- Students: $2.50
- Accompanying Adults: $2.50
- Teachers and Paraprofessionals: Free
Payment is expected upon arrival. For your convenience, we gladly accept cash, money order, credit card (Visa or Master Card), or check made payable to the City of Shawnee.
Additional Information
- Price: $2.50 per student; $2.50 per accompanying adult; free for teachers and paraprofessionals
- We require that one adult is present for every 10 children.
- A bus subsidy for school groups is available through the generosity of the Friends of Shawnee Town 1929. NEW! The bus subsidy is now $75 per bus.
- Education programs are available Mid-March through May and Mid-September through October.
- The Box City program is available throughout the year. Program length is approximately 2 hours.
- Picnic tables and benches that are surrounded by historic buildings and gardens are available for lunch.
- Shawnee Town 1929 is an outdoor museum with minimal provisions for inclement weather. We encourage students, teachers and parents to dress accordingly.
- Handicapped accessible
Pre-visit checklist
- review education programs below
- select program based on age and curriculum correlations
- reserve date/time
- bring payment on day of visit
- after your visit, complete a school visit survey
Education Programs Offered
These education programs meet the following Kansas History Standard and Benchmarks
The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of significant individuals, groups, ideas, events, eras, and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and the world, utilizing essential analytical and research skills.
Program Offered: Tuesdays and Thursdays from Mid-March through May and Mid-September through October.
Program length: 1.5 hours
Group size: Up to 75 students
Grade level: This program is geared towards 2nd through 4th grade students, scouts and youth groups
Up to 75 students for Life in the Past Lane, Red Letter Day, and To Market programs. Shawnee Town Museum and the
Johnson County Museum have partnered to offer simultaneous programs for larger groups. For more information contact our Curator of Education at (913) 742-6423 or
education@cityofshawneee.org.
Life in the Past Lane at 12 Miles per Hour - three 20 minute programs on one visit!
- History Detectives: Exploring Then, Now, and Why It Matters
Students learn about why history matters through comparison, contrast, and using artifacts. Everyday objects, photographs, and hands-on participation are used to teach students about life in the 1920's and how this pivotal time is relevant to our lives today. Many objects which reflect inventions, communication, travel, work and leisure, and popular culture will be used.
- Immigration: Many People, One Land
Each and every one of us has a story to tell about family members who came by ship to the “new country” – whether several hundred years ago or only a generation back. Students will participate in discovering and relating their own families’ immigration stories through oral histories, maps, and hands-on activities. By comparing and contrasting their immigration stories, the student will learn that the immigration story is a unifying story, one all of us share. This program includes a pre-program activity for the classroom.
- Farm House Life
Children are able to connect with our rural past in an actual Shawnee, Kansas farm house! The Hart-DeCaeny house is a historically accurate restoration where various chores take place, ranging from doing laundry the old fashioned way to cooking in the kitchen. Hands-on activities vary from day to day, but children get a taste for what children did to help their families on a 1920's farm.
Red Letter Day
Capture the spirit of community with this team focused program. Students will experience what it means to be part of a small town community: learning a poem in our one-room schoolhouse, receiving mail, ordering from a 1920s “wish book”, designing their own banner, leading a parade and reciting a poem. They will compare and contrast family, school and national holidays and how we celebrate them – 1920's style and now. NEW! Students will purchase postcards with pennies provided by our bank and mail them courtesy of Shawnee Town. Student compares and contrasts How people communicated with each other in the 1920's and now. Pre-program activity included
To Marker, To Market
Pull on your overalls and lace up your work boots. To Market is an engaging way for your students to learn how a farm operates. Activities will include shelling and grinding corn, learning about the farm’s chickens and Romeo, the rooster, preparing vegetables for market, and, dependent upon the season, learn about spring farming preparation and fall harvesting. They will plant seeds and operate the high wheel cultivator in the spring and harvest crops in the fall. NEW! Students will learn the biology of a plant from seed to market to table. This program includes a pre-program activity for the classroom.
Goin' to Town - Fridays only!
Set your own pace with this observation program. They will walk through the town visiting with Shawnee townsfolk and possibly try their hand at measuring items in the Dry Goods Store, shelling corn, learning about 1920's stamps and coins, ordering supplies from a catalog, doing laundry, churning butter, visiting with our chickens, and Romeo the roster, and touring our farm house!
Program Offered: Fridays only from Mid-March through May and Mid-September through October.
Program length: 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon
Group size: Up to 125 students
Grade level: This program is geared towards 2nd through 4th grade students; this is a perfect program for home school groups.
Box City
Imagine starting with a blank canvas and building and naming your own community! Using mathematics, geography and a lot of team work, Box City participants decide upon their city’s topography, design and create its buildings out of cardboard boxes and scrap materials and place them on the city map they have drawn. The result is a planned community of their design based upon discussion, creativity and engagement in a creative, thought-provoking process. Created in 1969 by Ginny and Dean Graves, an educator and an architect, Box City is now used internationally by museums, schools, city governments and other organizations.
Program Offered: Tuesdays through Fridays all year long!
Program length: 2 hours
Group size: Maximum of 30 participants
Grade level: This program is geared towards 2nd through 4th grade students, scouts and youth groups
Bus Subsidy
Shawnee Town 1929 has applied for a grant to provide a bus subsidy to help teachers and schools partially fund transportation to the Museum. If the subsidy grant is awarded, the funds will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The subsidy must be requested at the time you book your school visit. Schools may receive one subsidy per year.
On the day of your visit, we will need to know to whom the check should be made to (example: your school, school district, etc.) and the full address where the check should be sent. Checks will be mailed within 10 working days after your visit. For more information on the bus subsidy call (913) 248-2360.