Resources for Educators
| Environmental Education | Historical Education | Resource Binders |
| Continuing Professional Development Unit Credits | Traveling Discovery Kits | |
| Field Trip Materials | Return to School Program Home Page | |
Environmental Education Resources
These resources are housed at the Homer Lake Interpretive Center (formerly Environmental Education Center) unless otherwise indicated. Contact Stacey Clementz or call (217) 896-2455 if you have any questions about Environmental Education resources.
Audubon Materials
We serve as the Champaign County Audubon Society (CCAS) Loan Center. We have a selection of slides, videos and curriculum materials on a variety of birds, insects, mammals and nature-related topics. The materials will be delivered to your Champaign County classroom and are available for one month at no cost. Visit www.champaigncountyaudubon.org for a list of available materials.
NEW!
CCAS Bird Adaptation Loan Box
Birds have different types of beaks, eggs and feet to adapt to their unique lifestyles. Our CCAS loan kit can enhance your lessons on bird adaptations. Included are replicas of bird skulls, eggs and tracks, as well as hands-on activities. This kit is appropriate for grades K-12. It requires a refundable deposit.
Discovery Backpacks
These backpacks are available for loan to provide you with assistance on the trails. Each pack contains activities to complete along the trail as well as educational equipment (binoculars, pond dipping tools, identification books, magnifiers and more!). These packs require a refundable deposit.
Insect Backpacks
Do you want to look for insects but don't know how or don't have the tools? Well, come out to a forest preserve and borrow an insect backpack! Each backpack contains a how-to guide, insect nets, bug boxes, insect guides and much more. They are available at the Homer Lake Interpretive Center at Homer Lake, Museum of the Grand Prairie (formerly Early American Museum) and our Headquarters office at Lake of the Woods. These packs require a refundable deposit.
Water Quality Loan Box
This kit is available to teachers and groups interested in learning about water quality in lakes and streams. Each kit contains equipment to test and measure the temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and nitrogen of the water. Also included are pond-dipping nets to investigate the macroinvertebrates of the water, and a binder with indoor and outdoor activities. This loan box is appropriate for 3rd grade to adults. There is a $10 fee, and a refundable deposit is required.
Self-Guided Trail Brochures
Be your own guide! We invite you to explore nature at your convenience with a new series of brochures that will help you experience some of our preserves’ most popular trails. These brochures include detailed trail maps, photos, and information about the flora and fauna that await you on the trail!
Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve:
Homer Lake Forest Preserve:
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Historical Education Resources
These resources are housed at the Museum of the Grand Prairie. Contact Sandy Osborne or call
(217) 586-2612 if you have questions about historical education resources.
TRAVELING DISCOVERY KITS
These kits contain hands-on, reproduction artifacts along with supplementary literature and suggestions for teachers. All kits are free with a refundable deposit of $50. Let us introduce our kits to your school. Schedule a "show and tell" with museum staff. We will bring several kits to share with administrators, teachers and students.
Gone for a Soldier
This kit includes some of the personal belongings of a Union soldier in the Civil War, excerpts from letters of Champaign County soldiers, and our Champaign County During the Civil War video.
The Illinois Country
In this traveling discovery kit, students will explore the Illinois Country fur trade. This kit includes literature about the interactions between the French and Native Americans in the 18th century, along with actual furs, reproductions of trade goods, and suggested activities.
History from the Heart
This outreach kit is based on the publication of the Illinois Quilt Research Project, History from the Heart: Quilt Paths Across Illinois. It includes a copy of the book, study questions, suggested activities, quilt blocks and story books.
Dressed for Work and Play
This kit contains accurate reproductions of everyday clothing worn by boys and girls in the 1840s. It includes background information for teachers. Color slides of paintings and photographs illustrating 19th-century children accompany the kit. A complete set of boys and girls clothing is included. All students may handle the clothing items. Kit is good for grades K through 5.
Illiniwek Discovery Kit
Touch a braintanned hide and a bison bone, learn what wampum is and more! This Discovery Kit focuses on the history and culture of Native Americans who once lived throughout Central Illinois. Information on the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Cahokia, Mascouten and other members of the Illiniwek Confederation from 1650 to 1800 is included, along with complete lesson plans, maps, a variety of hands-on materials and Illiniwek language tapes. This kit was put together by Dan Hechenberger of the educational nonprofit group Nipundikan and uses the Goals and Standards for Social Science, Science, Arts and Music, Language Arts and Math. Funding for this kit was provided by the Ida Haack Trust Fund established by Otto Haack.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Use a stereoscope! Make a phantasmascope! Learn to distinguish between a daguerreotype and a cabinet card. Hands-on reproductions of different types of photographs as well as persistence of motion devices are included. Teach Science and Social Science at the same time!
Your Choice
The museum has a large inventory of hands-on reproduction items, representing many eras, occupations and life styles. We can work together to create a tub of selected items for your specific needs.
African American History Newsletter
For nearly eight years, the Museum of the Grand Prairie and local businesses helped to publish the newsletter, "Through the Years." This newsletter highlights the accomplishments of many individual African Americans in Champaign County and features articles on area churches, businesses, schools and social groups. Issues are available on our web page, www.museumofthegrandprairie.org, and in school libraries in Champaign County.
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Resource Binders
The resource binders are housed at the Museum of the Grand Prairie. Contact Sandy Osborne or call (217) 586-2612 if you have questions about these resource binders.
Challenges, Choices and Changes for Champaign County
This handbook covers local history from 1850 to 1870. Sections on general county history, the railroad, African American history, political campaigns and Champaign County's involvement in the Civil War are all part of the binder. Although these materials are geared toward secondary students, teachers of younger students will likely find portions of them useful. All Champaign County middle and high schools and Champaign County public libraries were supplied with a set of these materials in 1994.
Champaign County: Settlement of the Prairie, 1825 to 1860
This handbook includes transcripts of primary sources, suggestions for teachers and a special timeline, which integrates events into national, state and local history. Although this is geared to a fifth grade level, it can be modified for other grades. All Champaign County elementary schools received a copy of these materials in 1997.
Continuing Professional Development Unit Credits
The Museum and Education Department offers content-based workshops for Continuing Professional Development Unit (CPDU) credit. Please let us know if you are interested in such a workshop and/or would like to be included on our CPDU mailing list. For more information, contact Stacey Clementz at (217) 896-2455 or sclementz@ccfpd.org.
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Pre- and Post-Field Trip Information
Aquatic Ecologist
Birds of a Feather
Branching Out with Trees
Frog Follies
Hatchet
Illinois Mammals
Into Insects
Nature of Winter
Prairie Patterns
Remarkable Reptiles
Wetlands and Waterfowl
