Traveling Programs

ALPLM brings the lessons of Lincoln to students in Illinois through Lincoln’s Legacy Learning Kits. This circulating educational outreach program, targeted to grades 5-8, includes four complete units of study on the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. The kits were created in 2008 through a generous grant from the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).

Lincoln's Legacy Learning Kits

 ALPLM offers four complete kits for educators and librarians to use with students. They include:

• Civil War Soldier
• Lincoln Reading
• Mary Todd Lincoln
• Slavery in Illinois

Kit Contents

Each Lincoln’s Legacy Learning Kit contains a CD with lesson plans, activities, digitized primary source material and worksheets educators can print and use in classrooms. Additional materials available include:

• Laminated reproductions of primary source documents from ALPLM's collections
• Laminated historic images
• Reproductions of period artifacts
• Music from the time period
• Age-appropriate books

See the full list of references and resources for each kit: Kit Bibliography and Source List and the CD Bibliography and Source List.

Teaching with Lincoln's Legacy Learning Kits

The Lincoln's Legacy Learning Kits align to Illinois' State Learning Standards and meet teachers' needs for integrated curriculum by combining social studies topics with Language Arts, Reading, Writing, Fine Arts, Mathematics, Geography, and Science. These contents of the kits provide hands-on, experiential learning using concrete objects or situations—a method the National Council for the Social Studies advocates as "the single most effective vehicle for helping young adolescents make meaning out of their world."

Borrowing a Traveling Program

Any Illinois public or school library can borrow The Lincoln’s Legacy Learning Kits free of charge from any public library in Illinois using the statewide interlibrary loan system. Visit your local library to check out the kits for your classroom today -- be sure to provide your Librarian with the kit’s OCLC number.

• OCLC#244637504 Civil War soldier kit
• OCLC#244638607 Slavery in Illinois kit
• OCLC#244638162 Lincoln reading kit
• OCLC#244638165 Mary Todd Lincoln kit

Hands-On History Program

The Hands-On History program is an in-person lecture available to classes in Sangamon County. Led by one of our Education Department staff, these free programs are scheduled on a first-come, first-served, staff available basis and can be modified to meet your learning objectives, time allotment, and location constraints.

If you would like to book a Hands-On History program for your class, email the Education Department and include the following information:

• Name, school, and contact information
• The dates you are interested in the Hands-On History program
• Number of students, classes taught, and their grade levels
• Program(s) of interest
• Any key learning goals or targets you hope to meet

A member of the Education team will contact you.

Questions or Ideas?

If you have questions about our traveling programs or want to share an idea with ALPLM for a future traveling program, please contact the Education Department to discuss your ideas.