Our programs are designed with teachers and students in mind and correlate with the Common Core and the state of Connecticut’s curriculum frameworks. Field trips are free for students and teachers.
Fourth grade students from Hamden Hall Country Day School tour Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum on Wednesday, January 11, 2017.
An Educators Guide to Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum was designed for middle and high school teachers to use in their classrooms and at the museum. It includes pre- and post-visit classroom resources and activities. The lesson plan allows students to understand the history of The Great Hunger through primary and secondary sources, draw connections to current examples of famine, and understand how major world affairs and public policies can affect the world.
Pack Your Suitcase is a lesson plan designed for elementary school teachers and includes lessons in immigration, decision making, and what impacts our choices. The lesson plan includes background historical information, primary source documents and activities, worksheets that include math, writing, and discussion, comparison of 19th century and modern US immigration, and a model citizenship test.
Scoilnet
Scoilnet, a resource from the Department of Education and Skills in Ireland, has produced a number of educational resources inspired by the museum’s collection. These resources include art lessons, history lessons, and exhibition guides which can be used in the classroom.
Illustrated London News
The Illustrated London News (ILN), a weekly illustrated newspaper, was founded in 1842. By 1850, the paper sold 100,000 copies, and for each copy purchased there was an average of thirty readers. The paper had huge international reach, and the Famine was one of the first global calamities to feature in the popular press.
Inspired by the Illustrated London News, and other weekly periodicals of the time, this activity asks students to read for comprehension about the Famine in Ireland, its causes and global impact. Follow up activities allow students to answer questions, draw, and write about what they have learned.
Exploring the legacy of the Great Irish Famine and its relevance in a modern context, The Hunger Times is a short film aimed at children between the ages of 10 and 13, produced by Tile Media. This is the first time that a Famine story has been told on film through the eyes of children. Filmed on location in Ireland and the United States, the film was commissioned through an open competition by Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum (IGHM) at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, USA. It was funded by The Ireland Funds.
Ireland's Great Hunger Museum | Músaem An Ghorta Mhóir | 3011 Whitney Avenue, Hamden, CT | 203-582-6500
