For
Educators
Inspiration and discovery don’t just happen with an on-site visit. The GRPM offers professional learning opportunities and resources that allow educators to incorporate objects, activities and other high-quality content into their instruction wherever they are!
Table of Contents
Teacher Club
Stay up to date with what’s happening at the GRPM and what’s being offered for school groups specifically.
Joining Teacher Club is free, and helps ensure you receive advance information on upcoming events and programs for students! All Michigan pre-service, in-service and informal educators are invited to join.
Benefits:
- Invitations to educator events and exhibit previews
- Free general admission for field trip planning (for the teacher only)
- Free subscription to monthly Teacher Club e-newsletters
- 10% discount in the Museum Curiosity Shop
Once you are a club member you can redeem your benefits by showing your ID at the front desk of the Museum.
Professional Development & Workshops
SAVE THE DATE: Our next professional development opportunity, Teaching Diverse Local Histories, will take place on March 11, 2025 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. This workshop will be led by Matt Vriesman, 2023 National History Teacher of the Year and Kentwood Public Schools teacher.
Matt will be joined by special guests and expert facilitators including community members with relevant lived experiences, experts in Cultural Responsive Teaching, and GRPM education and archival staff. This workshop is free with registration. MDE SCECHs will be provided to participants.
Supported with funds from the Michigan Department of Education’s Teaching Diverse Histories Grant
Registration coming soon!
Discovery Kit Loan Program
Discovery Kit Themes
- Anishinabe Culture: Learn how Anishinabek have lived alongside the natural world through a variety of artifacts that tell the story of the first people of this place.
- Early Hominin Stone Tools: Think like an archaeologist and examine realistic reproductions of the stone tools created by early humans.
- Foodways: Food is a universal language. Discover how cultures around the world work in the kitchen.
- Fossils: Step back on the geological timeline to explore a variety of plant and animal fossils.
- Hats: What people wear on their heads can tell us an interesting story; learn the history behind headwear from across the globe.
- Holiday Traditions: Winter is the season for celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and more. Learn how trees, drums, and shoes play a part in holiday traditions around the world.
- Meteorites: Enjoy an “out of this world” opportunity to touch and examine real meteorites- pieces of rock, metal, and ice traveling through space that have landed on Earth.
- Music: Music is one of the first elements of culture we think of; investigate a variety of musical instruments from around the world.
- Newcomers: If you were moving to a new country and had only one suitcase to pack, what would you bring with you? Take a glimpse into the immigrant experience with this discovery kit.
- Numismatics: Yen, Roman coins, credit cards… Explore currency from around the globe.
- Rocks & Minerals: Think like a geologist and explore a collection of rocks and minerals, many of which are found here in Michigan. Learn about Earth’s minerals, geological processes, and how rocks are formed!
- Space Exploration: Space, the final frontier! Discover the story of Roger B. Chaffee, a hometown hero, and get an up-close look at space fragments.
- Zoology: Investigate specimens native to West Michigan and from around the globe. Discover where these species live, what they eat, and what makes them special!
Reservation Information
- Rental length: 1 week
- Cost: $25 per kit
- Pick up and drop off: Kits can be picked up any time after 12:00 p.m. Monday of your confirmed week. Kits must be dropped off no later than 5:00 p.m. the following Sunday. Pick up and drop off will take place at the GRPM security entrance
- Please submit your reservation request at least one week ahead of your preferred loan date.
Watch our Discovery Kit Safety Video with your class to learn how to utilize the discovery kits and practice safe handling!
For questions about this program or how to best leverage the kits, please contact group scheduling at groups@grpm.org or 616.929.1734.
Lessons and Resources
Downloadable Resources and Activity Guides
The GRPM has created several types of free educational resources. Download or share this content with students to incorporate Museum exhibits and artifacts into your instruction.
Virtual Discovery Kits
These activity sheets provide educational backgrounds of a variety of science, history and cultural topics and allow students to ask questions, be creative and reflect on their learning.
Virtual Scavenger Hunts for Digital Collections
Use these scavenger hunts to explore the vast resource of the Digital Collections website which contains a quarter of a million records. Students will practice literacy, make connections, find patterns and use other deep thinking skills.
Teacher Created Resources
The GRPM supports educational efforts in West Michigan and beyond through the use of its Collections and community stories. These materials were developed in collaboration with teachers in the community.
Find out more or create your own by visiting GRPMCollection.org and clicking on Teacher Galleries.
Grand Rapids Black History Lessons
During the Great Migration in the early 20th century, millions of Black Americans fled the Jim Crow South hoping to find freedom and economic opportunity in places like Grand Rapids. Unfortunately, the city did not always provide the escape from racial oppression that many hoped. This lesson series explores the experiences and resilience of Black residents of Grand Rapids, and how the community responded to injustice over the course of the 20th century.
Grand Rapids Black History Lessons were developed by Kentwood AP US History teacher and 2023 National History Teacher of the Year Matt Vriesman in collaboration with the GRPM’s curatorial and education staff. Vriesman also pulled in the expertise and work of authors Dr. Randall Jelks and Dr. Todd Robinson.
Exhibit Tour Videos
Simulate a virtual visit to the GRPM’s memorable core exhibits and archives.
Anishinabek: The People of this Place
Newcomers: The People of this Place
Streets of Old Grand
Rapids
West Michigan
Habitats