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Teacher Resources For School Activities and resources. Use before & after a visit, or anytime. For Museum Visits Preview galleries and print out activities to do at the Museum.

Educator Receptions
Preview the Museum
Planning a Group Visit
Living Landscapes
     Curriculum Guide
     Professional Development Workshops
     Go directly to Living Landscapes
Outreach Programs

Educator Receptions

Meet the Education staff, enjoy refreshments, learn about our Museum Educator-led Programs, view special exhibitions and pick up related resources.

Save this date!

Educator’s Reception
Thursday, January 29, beginning at 3:30 pm
Warm up at the North Pole with hot chocolate! Journey to the top of the world with museum educators and participate in a fun and informative Arctic scavenger hunt, and learn about workshops and special events with other educators. (Earn 1.5 PDPs as part of the Arctic Exploration Professional Development Package) RSVP by Monday, January 26, at (413) 443-7171, ext 18.

Educators can preview the Berkshire Museum free of charge year-round! Call ahead. (413) 443-7171, ext. 19. All teachers receive a 10% discount in the Museum store. For free admission and store discount please show your teacher ID.

Make learning outdoors meaningful, manageable and fun.  The second edition of Living Landscapes does all this and more!  These ready-to-use lessons use math, science, language, and visual arts to engage your students in outdoor activities that link to classroom curriculum. 

The new Living Landscapes website adds teacher resources and dynamic activities to make your students' outdoor learning experience unforgettable. Coming in Spring 2008: Teaching in Nature workshops for professional development.

To order a copy of the Living Landscapes Curriculum Guide

Living Landscapes: Teaching in Nature uses outdoor experiential learning to support core subjects in the elementary classroom—math, English language arts, science, and the arts—and provides easy to-follow lessons that use the school grounds and on-hand materials.
Download Full Guide PDF Will take several minutes to download, or Order Here.

The Museum offers professional development workshops for educators throughout the year. For information about arranging Museum-led professional development workshops for your school or district, contact Curtis Asch, Education Program Manager, at (413) 443-7171, ext. 19.

Berkshire Museum Workshops
Enliven your classroom with new lesson ideas and dynamic, hands-on approaches that make connections across disciplines-- including math, language, visual arts, history, and natural science. Connect with colleagues and gain fresh perspectives with field specialists and Berkshire Museum educators.

Arctic Exploration
Professional Development Package
Berkshire Museum offers K-8 teachers an opportunity to earn between 10-20 Professional Development Points (PDPs). Discover new resources to bring the world of Arctic exploration to life. Pick from the following to custom build a package of a minimum of 10 PDPs):

(1PDP)  Presentation Series : Free to Educators (show you teacher ID)
(Earn 1 PDP for each lecture you attend)

Reliance on Inuit Technology

Susan Kaplan, Director of the

4:30 pm, Saturday January 24

Learn how Admiral Peary and Matthew Henson learned from Inuit culture and native technology how to survive their historic trip to the North Pole.

African American explorers

Dr. Bruce Bridges

7 pm, Friday February 27

Mathew Henson, the first black explorer, was indispensable to Peary’s expedition team.  Dr. Bridges examines Henson’s contribution, as well as those of other African Americans, to exploration.

Arctic Fever!
Exploration and American Society
Michael Robinson, author of the Coldest Crucible
7 pm, Friday, April 10
Why were Americans obsessed with Arctic expeditions in the 19th century? And how did American society shape the future of exploration? 

Polar Bear Adventures
John Piazza, New England Zoo
7 pm, Friday March 27
John Piazza, zoologist and polar bear expert, will explore the lives and changing environment of Polar bear and other arctic animals.

Earn additional PDPs at:

 (1.5 PDPs) Educator’s Reception. (See full description.)
               Thursday, January 29, 3:30 pm

(3 PDPs) Arctic in the Classroom: Professional Development Seminar
              Saturday, May 2, 9:30 – 12:30. Plan interdisciplinary lessons.
(3 PDPs) Submit and implement lesson plans from the Arctic in the Classroom Seminar.

(1 PDPs) For each Museum Educator-led Program. (See full descriptions.)

(1 PDPs) For each our of Pre-post Activities form the Museum online Educator Resources.
  (Must be pre approved)

You must attend or implement at least ten hours, of Arctic Education materials to receive PDPs.

Contact Curtis Asch, Education Program Manager at (413) 443-7171, Ext. 19 to set up a pre-approved schedule.

Museum Institute for Teaching Science
Professional Development
For PreK-8th grade Educators
July 6-17, 2009. The Museum Institute for Teaching Science (MITS) is dedicated to promoting inquiry-based, hands-on learning in the classroom through collaboration with Museums and other institutions.

MITS provides Summer Institutes for educators, with a different focusing topic each year. This summer’s program will focus on water and energy. Participating educators will visit several sites including the Zephyr wind turbine at Jiminy Peak, the Darrow School in New Lebanon, Hancock Shaker Village and the Berkshire Botanical Garden, while gaining new ideas from workshop presenters and other educators.

Sessions will cover a wide variety of subjects, including:

• Inquiry-based learning
• Local alternative energy resources
• Renewable energy, from the Shakers to today
• PCB contamination of the Housatonic River
• Innovative water conservation concepts

… and many more! 60 or 90 PDPs and graduate credits are available. The Berkshire Museum is proud to continue serving as the coordinator for the Berkshire region's Summer Institute.

For more information, call MITS at (617) 695-9771 or go to their website, www.mits.org.