Dear Teacher:

The Historic Morris Visitors Center is pleased to have prepared this guide as a tool for your "Heritage Education" experience. Morris County local historian, John Cunningham, posed the question, "What better place is there to begin knowing the world than in one’s own town?" We couldn’t agree more!

The Teachers Guide Book has been prepared to enable you, the teacher, to lead a tour of Historic Morristown in an easy-to-use format. We have developed three (3) grade-level tours that focus on the curriculum objectives set forth by the New Jersey Board of Education. Each tour has been broken down into a site-by-site guide featuring many of their historic highlights and in some cases, activities that will make your tour as meaningful as possible.

We suggest that you review the enclosed material well in advance of your planned tour. Also, consider coupling your morning tour with an afternoon excursion to one of the historic sites appropriate for your grade level. Our aim has been to provide you with an outline. You can adjust your lesson plans as you see fit. In any case, taking this tour will hopefully light a spark in your students - a spark that will allow them to better see their place in the world.
Sincerely,

Leslie Bensley
Executive Director
Morris County Visitors Center

6 Court Street - Morristown, NJ 07960 - (973) 631-5151


Teachers - Additional Comments

  1. Please note that it was our intention for you to use the teacher’s guide only when conducting your tour. We feel it is better to let the students have their brochures AFTER the tour thereby removing all distractions and possibilities of using the brochure to make paper airplanes!

  2. Please consider coupling your morning tour with a visit to a grade appropriate historic site. Many have lunch facilities, or perhaps your group should consider eating lunch on the bus before you arrive. All of the historic sites are anxious to receive student groups - especially those which are age appropriate. We hope that by giving you an outline for possible field trips, you will follow this three-year guide; rather than having a third-grade class visit Jockey Hollow, wait until the fifth grade when everyone, including the interpretive staff, will have a more rewarding experience.

  3. Please send us your comments. We know that this is a work in progress and can only improve the tour by reviewing YOUR comments.





For your convenience we have made the following files available to you for downloading:
(You will need the Adobe Acrobat reader to view these files, you can download it here for free.)


GLOSSARY.PDF - Contains a glossary of words mentioned throughout the tours.

5thGRADE.PDF - Contains history of the time period, stops on the walking tour and info on fashion at the time.

4thGRADE.PDF - Contains history of the time period, stops on the walking tour and info on fashion at the time.

3rdGRADE.PDF - Contains history of the time period, stops on the walking tour andinfo on fashion at the time.

MUSEUMS.PDF - Contains a list of museum information, including hours, cost and contact for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade.


Morris County Visitors Center