School Programs
Call 215–679–3103 and let our Museum Educator help you to plan your school visit. All groups must make a reservation in advance, reservations are taken year round. Please allow 2 hours for your visit. Programs are designed to Pennsylvania State Standards. Field trip programs cost $2 per student and includes a general tour. Payment is non-refundable. If you do not see a program that fits your curriculum, our staff will gladly work with you to develop a program.
Grades K-8
Family Histories: A Genealogy Program
PDE History Standards:
8.1.3A,B,D; 8.2.3B; 8.3.3B 8.1.6A,B,D; 8.2.6B, 8.3.6B
Take a tour of our Schwenkfelder gallery and learn about
German immigration through the eyes of a genealogist.
Learn how immigration documents and artifacts tell the
story of the history of a culture.
Begin a family tree or pedigree chart in our classroom.
Grades 1-4
An Immigration Story
PDE History Standards:8.1.3A; 8.2.3D;8.3.3B,8.4.3D
Take on the role of a Schwenkfelder family and consider
the challenges if you had to leave in 18th century for a
new life. Learn what the Schwenkfelders took with them,
what they left behind and what impact their culture left
in the local area.
In groups, we'll embark on a writing activity and compare our letters to
content within the SLHC's 18th century collection of Schwenkfelder letters called the Hoffmann Correspondance.
Grades 1-5
PA German Folk Arts; easily adaptable for middle school students
Choice: fraktur or scherenschnitte activity
Examine different forms of PA German Fraktur. Learn the different types of PA German decorated manuscripts (certificates, rewards, house blessings, religious texts) and learn more about the Fraktur style of handwriting. Identify common motifs in PA German folk arts. In the classroom, make a fraktur or a work of scherenschnitte.
Grades 3-4
PA German Textile Arts
PDE History Standards: 8.1.6B; 8.2.6A PDE Arts and Humanities Standards: 9.2.5A,E,H
Examine different forms of textiles from coverlets, show
towels and linens woven by local PA German,
Schwenkfelder weavers. Learn what role children played
in textile production and learn a simple form of weaving.
Grades 5-6
Schwenkfelder Stories
PDE History Standards: 8.1.6A,C PDE Arts and Humanities Standards: 9.1.5E; 9.2.5H
The Schwenkfelder immigration story is told from the
Renaissance life of Caspar Schwenckfeld to the landing
of the Schwenkfelders through the art of Pennsylvania
painter Adolf Pannash and the photographs of Winslow Fegley.
Middle School and High School Grades
We conduct general tours of our
museum and library exhibit spaces for middle school and
high school students.
Our high school tours place special emphasis on the Protestant Reformation, PA German Immigration, and Folk Arts. Small class sizes
are treated to behind the scenes tours and direct Q&A opportunities with our Associate director of Research, Allen Viehmeyer, and
our Curator of Collections, Candace Perry.
Please contact Rebecca Lawrence,
Museum Educator, 215–679–3103 or
rebecca@schwenkfelder.com to schedule a tour. Foreign
Language teachers please click here:
Foreign Language Programs.