Educators

Discover Chicago’s beginning as a fur-trade outpost in the early nineteenth century. Treasure Chest Students will read a historical fiction story called “Trading Mystery” to learn what life was like in early Chicago during the fur-trade era. Students will then analyze and share their impressions of a “treasure chest” full of early Chicago artifacts. Download More

Enrich your instruction with Great Chicago Stories, an award-winning suite of twelve historical fiction narratives and supporting classroom resources. Download the narratives and unit plans, which were written and classroom-tested by local teachers. Use the interactive history map to click on then-and-now images of locations from each narrative. Investigate historical evidence using question prompts and More

The Teen Chicago collection contains one hundred oral histories about growing up in Chicago during the twentieth century. This collection was created as part of the Teen Chicago Project, a multiyear initiative to expand teenage involvement at the Chicago History Museum. A fifteen-member Teen Council was hired and trained to conduct interviews between October 2003 More

Designed for children ages 6 to 12, My Chicago uses the symbols and design of the city’s flag to explore our rich and diverse history. The curriculum illustrates Chicago’s past and present by drawing on the Museum’s collections, including a variety of photographs, documents, and images of artifacts. The activities are appropriate for use in the classroom More

Enrich your instruction with Great Chicago Stories, an award-winning suite of twelve historical fiction narratives and supporting classroom resources. Download the narratives and unit plans, which were written and classroom-tested by local teachers. Use the interactive history map to click on then-and-now images of locations from each narrative. Investigate historical evidence using question prompts and More