Resources for Teachers & Schools
At the Monroe County Heritage Museum, we make learning fun! Education is central to our mission, and we are pleased to offer a wide variety of exciting programs for students and teachers. For more information, to schedule a field trip or to reserve a space for your classroom in one of our popular education programs, please contact our education director, Wanda Green, at 251-575-7433 or mchm@frontiernet.net.
Field Trips
The Monroe County Heritage Museum offers several outstanding field trips each year. These trips offer unique educational enrichment opportunities that you won’t find anywhere else. Our Education Department welcomes inquiries from teachers and schools. Call today to find out how these opportunities can serve your students.
Pioneer Days at Rikard’s Mill -
November
Each November, the Museum’s Rikard’s Mill Historical Park in Beatrice returns to Pioneer Days. Just a short drive north of Monroeville, the park features an 1845 working grist mill built by Jake Rikard. Powered by water from Flat Creek, the mill still grinds corn into grits and corn meal. The park includes a sugar cane mill, a blacksmith shop, the “miller’s cabin” and an old covered bridge gift shop. Students can see a number of old tools and farm machinery used by early settlers.
Pioneer Days assembles a number of demonstrators who recreate life in the mid-1800s. Students can watch demonstrators weave fabric, make quilts, construct musical instruments and extract juice from sugar cane for syrup making. This is a great opportunity for students to step back in time and experience life in early Alabama.
The Alabama River Festival at the Alabama River Museum - March
The Alabama River Museum hosts the annual Alabama River Festival each March at the Claiborne Lock & Dam. A number of demonstrators and re-enactors join us to create a frontier encampment as found in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Your students can experience a frontier settlement, a trading post, a log cabin construction and hunting and fishing camps. Students will learn Creek Indian culture by participating in face painting, hatchet throwing, story telling, stickball games and the traditional Stomp Dance.
“A Day In Maycomb” April and May
Bring your students to the Old Courthouse Museum for an experience in history and literature. “A Day In Maycomb” takes participants back in time to learn about early Monroeville and how it helped shape the book To Kill A Mockingbird. We assemble a wonderful group of faculty volunteers who take your students through the various courthouse exhibit rooms which include the 1930s law office, the Harper Lee and Truman Capote rooms, the Atticus Finch Memorial, old records in the archives room, the play sets and the original old courtroom. Be attentive, because we sometimes see a “ghost appearance” from one of the characters from the book, or, evidence that “Boo Radley” has been here.
Young Audience Performances
of To Kill A Mockingbird - April
The J.L. Bedsole Foundation sponsors the Mockingbird Players in special daytime performances of the play To Kill A Mockingbird. These outstanding performances bring life to the book and allow students to enjoy a wonderful cultural experience. The Young Audience daytime shows fill to capacity quickly. The first opportunity to reserve space for your class is at the annual Teacher Seminar in July.
School Tours
Call our education department to arrange a school tour of the Old Courthouse Museum, the Alabama River Museum, Rikard’s Mill, Old Bethany Baptist Church in Burnt Corn or other historical Monroe County sites. We will be happy to help you arrange an experience that brings people and history together.
History Adventure Camp - June
The summer history camp is a week-long day camp for children in grades 2 through 6. Each day allows students to experience and learn a specific historical theme. The camp may include swimming, hiking, Creek Indian culture, historical artifacts and a nature presentation. Space is limited, so call us early for more information.
Two Teacher Workshops
Each July the Museum produces two teacher workshops that can only be found in Monroeville! Both offer SARIC credit and are free for teachers.
1. Scenes & Stories of Monroeville – To Kill A Mockingbird – July
This workshop consists of two faculty panels who will offer unique insights for educators teaching To Kill A Mockingbird. Participants will hear from presenters who grew up in Monroeville and knew Harper Lee during their school years. This wealth of firsthand historical information will bring new life to your classroom discussions of the book. The second panel will discuss race relations and the struggle for civil rights in the South.
Participants can browse the museum gift shop which offers a variety of books, posters, teaching guides and Mockingbird memorabilia.
2. Monroe County History Tour – July
Board the bus and travel to historical sites throughout Monroe County, the county that is older than the state of Alabama! The tour typically includes sites in Burnt Corn, Claiborne, Beatrice and Buena Vista. See the location of the Federal Road, historic buildings in Peterman and historical homes in the county. The tour will take participants inside locations that are not always open to the public.
To Kill A Mockingbird Teaching Aids for Your Classroom
Want to enhance your classroom experience? If you can’t come to Monroeville, we can help bring “Maycomb” to you! Be sure to look at these classroom and teaching enhancements.
To Kill A Mockingbird – Teachers Guide $24.99
This useful binder is filled with strategies, questions, exercises and information designed to help your students achieve a meaningful learning experience when reading and discussing the novel.
To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee’s Scrapbook $24.99
Another useful binder filled with news clips and articles about Harper Lee, her successful novel and the making of the movie.
To Kill A Mockingbird – by Harper Lee $27.99
The 50th Anniversary edition of the novel is available with a special Monroe County Heritage Museum seal – right from the old courthouse!
