Fort Osage, Lesson Plans

The Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department has a Historic Sites Teacher's Guide that highlights lessons to teach at Fort Osage National Historic Landmark and Missouri Town 1855.

Picture from http://www.jacksongov.org/fortosage/

The Lesson plans include ideas for things to do before visiting the park, things to do at the park, and things to do after your visit.

Pre-visit activities include; doing school work without electricity and learning about non-refrigerated foods.  There is also a great vocabulary list to study.

For activities to do at the park, included are questions to ask the interpreters at the park, such as the differences between jobs in frontier times and current times and the experiences of living at a frontier outpost.

Picture from http://www.jacksongov.org/fortosage/

After visiting the park, the activities include using descriptive writing to write a summary of their experiences or a letter to family about the trip.  Make a memory trip about what senses you used and what they were, and discuss time capsules and what students would put in them.

In the Teachers Guide, there is also a list of additional resources for further study.