Virtual Lessons
We’ve adapted some of the park’s most popular in-person educational experiences into these virtual lessons, available through Zoom in Spring 2021.
Each lesson is led by one of the park’s historical interpreters. All are compatible with in-person, partially-remote, and fully-remote classrooms. Teachers will be provided with a lesson plan and all supplemental worksheets before the lesson.
The cost for each discussion is $45. To learn more or request a Virtual Lesson for your class, please call 215-493-4076. A limited number of lessons are available at no cost for schools receiving Title I funding.
Patriots and Loyalists: Opinions Regarding the Revolutionary War
This lesson explores the history of the Thompson-Neely House and Grist Mill, which was used as an encampment for 400 of General Washington’s soldiers over three weeks in 1776. In profiling the Thompson-Neely family, their neighbors, and some of the soldiers who camped on the property, students will identify the reasons people pledged their support to Washington, King George III, or neither. Following the discussion, students will be instructed to develop a colonial persona. In doing so, they’ll be asked to decide whether they’d take a side or remain neutral.
Length: 40-minute discussion, plus 15 minutes for guided and independent practice, closure, and assessment
Grades: 4-7
Making Butter: Food in the Eighteenth Century
This lesson opens with an essential question: where did the colonists get their food? From there, the discussion will dive into the various methods the colonists used to make their food, the different options available to urban and rural colonists, and how foodstuffs were preserved. The lesson culminates with a butter-making demonstration. Students will then make their own butter in baby food jars. They’ll be asked to fill out a graphic organizer on the process and answer questions based on their observations. This lesson can be paired with the Colonial Cooking lesson from one of the park’s History Chests.
Length: 30-minute discussion, plus 20 minutes for guided and independent practice
Grades: 3-5
The Role of Camp Followers
This lesson is an extension of the Camp Followers digital experience. The program is divided into three sections: sutleries, laundry, and nursing.
First, students learn about “sutleries,” which functioned as mobile grocery stores. Students will be asked to choose one of four options from the “sutlery” to supplement their rations. Their decisions will help steer the guided and independent practice in which they will create their own recipe. The second section details the laundry process and highlights the importance of having clean laundry. And in the third section, students learn what nursing during the colonial era entailed and what the prevalent thoughts were on how people got sick. This lesson concludes with a game in which students match a colonial-era medical treatment to the appropriate disease.
Length: 45-minute discussion, plus 15 minutes for guided and independent practice
Grades: 4-8