Slate Valley Museum Education Programs explore the traditions and customs of immigrants, the geology of slate, and the quarrying tools and technology of the slate industry. All programs for school groups support the New York State Learning Standards and the Vermont Frameworks for Education Standards. School programs are customized to the individual needs of each class. Teachers can choose to emphasize one or multiple activities and lessons provided in the program descriptions. Teachers can contact the museum educator by phone or email to plan the program. Adult programs interpret the same themes, and group leaders can contact the museum educator to tailor the program to their specific needs.

Participants study the amazing geological formation of the region's slate belt, which began over 500 million years ago. Participants examine a detailed geology exhibit that includes geologic maps and the geologic time scale to understand the complex processes that transformed minute particles of clay into the Slate Valley's richly colored slate. They will learn the inherent properties of slate by discussing its historic and modern applications. Through interactive and cooperative activities, participants identify and classify other regional rocks, comparing and contrasting the geologic processes through which they formed.

• understanding one million
• the geologic time scale
• the earth's layers
• convection currents
• when plates collide
• from Pangaea to today
• rock types and the rock
• cycle
• is it a rock or a mineral?
• what is a fossil?
• mineral properties, including streak, color, hardness and cleavage
• effects of a glacier

• VT Frameworks for Education Standards 4.5, 4.6, 6.1, 6.4, 6.8, 6.13, 6.14
• NY State Standards for English Language Arts 1, 2, 3
• NY State Standards for the Arts 1, 3, 4
• NY State Standards for Social Studies 1, 2, 3, 5

Participants explore the traditions and customs of immigrants from Wales, Ireland, Eastern Europe and Italy who came to the Slate Valley of New York and Vermont to work in the quarries. Through interactive exercises based on primary documents and objects in the museum collection, they learn about the hardships of the ocean voyage, the trials of passing through entry stations like Ellis Island, and the uncertainties of starting a new life in America.  Participants study how the immigrants created a legacy of cultural activities that still thrive in the Slate Valley today. 

• unpacking an immigrant trunk
• writing on immigration
• the 29 questions and immigrant inspections
  reasons for leaving the homeland
• story telling and oral
• histories
• family trees
• the dream and the reality

• VT Frameworks for Education Standards 4.5, 4.6, 6.1, 6.4, 6.8, 6.13, 6.14
• NY State Standards for English Language Arts 1, 2, 3
• NY State Standards for the Arts 1, 3, 4
• NY State Standards for Social Studies 1, 2, 3, 5

Participants learn about simple tools, machines, and force and motion in the context of slate quarrying. They examine the slate industry operation from the natural resource to the finished product, explore technological advances, and compare and contrast the tools and machines of yesterday with those of today.  They learn how the stone was excavated from the pit, then split and trimmed by hand in the yard through analysis of: historical photographs; the HEAVY LIFTING: A Human and Technological History of Moving Slate from Quarry to Market, 1850-Present exhibit and large-screen, multi-media presentation; videos of modern quarry operators at work; and a Works Progress Administration mural, Men Working in Slate Quarry, by Martha Levy. 

• from the commons to the industrial revolution
• simple machines at work in the slate yard
• the blacksmith
• scavenger hunts
• marbleizing slate
• making slate roofing tiles
• installing a slate roof
• properties of slate
• the quarry stick
• the shanty and the mill

• VT Frameworks for Education Standards 4.5, 4.6, 5.2, 6.15, 7.11, 7.16
• NY State Standards for M,S,T - 1,3,4,5,6, 7
• NY State Standards for the Arts - 3
• NY State Standards for S.S - 2,4

Outreach programs can be used singly or in conjunction with a museum program to bring the concepts and ideas to the classroom.  Outreach programs for adult groups are also available.  The museum also houses a lending library for individual study.

A museum educator will visit your site to present a customized program about immigration, the geology of slate, or the tools and technology of the slate industry.  Presentations will be specifically designed to support classroom instruction and projects.

Education programs are available year round. To arrange a museum program or an outreach program by a museum educator, or to reserve a museum loan kit,

• Museum Program: $4 per student for school groups, $8 per adult for adult groups
• Classroom Presentation by a Museum Educator: $100 + mileage
• Museum Loan Kits: $10 per class or group for two weeks

The Museum is supported by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

The museum is also funded by the IMLS, a government agency