Education Programming

One of the primary goals of the Friends of Fort McHenry is for every Baltimore City student to visit Fort McHenry at least once during his or her school career. Indeed, the Friends encourage all Maryland students to visit Fort McHenry and students throughout the United States to experience Fort McHenry through outreach programming.

Accordingly, the Friends of Fort McHenry partners with the National Park Service and Living Classrooms Foundation, as well as museums and historic sites throughout the region, to offer an array of innovative educational offerings both onsite and online.

NEW!
Long May It Wave: The War of 1812 and Fort McHenry
A National Curriculum for Grades 4 Through 8
To support teachers in Maryland and across the United States as they commemorate the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 in their classrooms, the Friends of Fort McHenry has developed a national curriculum on the War of 1812 and Fort McHenry for grades 4 through 8 in partnership with the National Park Service. This curriculum features downloadable lesson plans that correlate to the Maryland State Curriculum for Social Studies and the Common Core State Standards Initiative and emphasize historical thinking skills. Each lesson plan includes primary source documents and images, student worksheets, and suggestions for accommodations and extensions.

Development of the curriculum has been made possible by generous funding from the National Park Service, Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network. Special thanks also to GWWO, Inc./Architects for its donation of services.

Elementary Lessons

Secondary Lessons

Lessons Adaptable to Grades 4-8

Interdisciplinary Lessons Adaptable to Grades 4-8

Supplementary Materials

Defense of Our Nation: Maryland's Role in the War of 1812
Courtesy of Baltimore's War of 1812 Bicentennial Education Committee

The Fort McHenry Experience
This "hands-on" land-sea experience operated jointly by the National Park Service and Living Classrooms Foundation immerses students in the history of Fort McHenry and its national significance. Offered in the spring and fall, the program serves over 300 students annually. For more information about The Fort McHenry Experience, please contact Elizabeth Koustmer at ekoustmer@livingclassrooms.org or 410-685-0295.

Young Defenders Day
Young Defenders Day is the largest curriculum-based educational program at Fort McHenry. It enables students from Baltimore City Public Schools to experience Fort McHenry as it was at the time of the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. Students have the unique opportunity to interact with more than 100 living history interpreters and re-enactors in a re-creation of an historic encampment. Led by their teachers, who have been provided special training for the occasion, students unfurl a replica of the impressive 30'x 42' Star-Spangled Banner, serve on a cannon crew, "drill" as U.S. soldiers, tour the fort, experience 19th century civilian life, and learn about African Americans who defended the fort in 1814. Nearly 3,000 students participate annually. For more information, please contact Jennifer Frieman at jfrieman@friendsoffortmchenry.org or 410-962-4290 x850.

COMING SOON!
The Star-Spangled Virtual Resource Center
To make it easier for teachers to identify and access the full range of high-quality resources related to the War of 1812 available on the internet, the Friends of Fort McHenry, in partnership with Maryland Public Television (MPT) and the National Park Service, is developing the Star -Spangled Virtual Resource Center. To be housed on MPT's Thinkport, the Virtual Resource Center will provide educators with "one-stop-shopping" for complete lesson plans, primary source documents and images, sound and video clips, and more, in addition to tools that teachers can use to develop new lessons using these resources and students can use to create virtual museums and other projects. The Virtual Resource Center will be available in June 2012, in time for the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812.

Field Trips to Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
For information on standard class field trips to Fort McHenry, please visit the "For Teachers" page of the official National Park Service website for Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine at http://www.nps.gov/fomc/forteachers/index.htm.