School Tours
Our school programs are designed to be aligned with the New York State Common Core Learning Standards. Teachers may choose from the following programs for grades 1-12 to explore themes through interactive activities and house tours:
- 1776 Peace Conference
- Leaders of the Revolution (John Adams, Edward Rutledge, Benjamin Franklin)
- Colonial Life
- The Colonial Kitchen & Cooking
- Colonial Clothing
- Colonial Garden
Currently, the “Coming to America” exhibit allows students to reflect on the American immigrant experience from colonial days to the present. Students can study world maps to identify where in the world they or their ancestors came from.
Conference House Museum Educators are available to plan with teachers to ensure that their students’ specific learning needs are met.
Grades 1-4: Museum Detectives and Museum Spies
Who lived in the Conference House? How did they make their clothing? How did they prepare their food? What happened here in 1776? Museum detectives can solve these mysteries! Students will use hands-on, inquiry based learning to explore the world of colonial Staten Island and the lives of the family of Colonel Christopher Billopp, who lived here during the American revolution. This program allows young students to learn about the lives of the Billopp children by playing colonial games, using colonial toys, and/or performing colonial chores such as churning butter. Candlemaking, writing with a quill pen are other activities offered. Includes a house tour.
Grades 5-8: Museum Scholars and Young Leaders
The fifth and sixth grade students will explore the program themes with a choice of activities such as quilting, and studying colonial recipes with a demonstration. The seventh and eighth grade students will study the 1776 Peace Conference and perform a re-enactment, study the Declaration of Independence and perform a choral recitation or rap, or study the Leaders of the Revolution – John Adams, Edward Rutledge, and Benjamin Franklin – and their orations.
Grades 9-12: Thinkers and Emerging Civic Leaders
High school students are given the opportunity to apply thinking skills and develop problem solving skills to debate history as well as current issues.
Eleventh and twelfth grade students may apply to become Conference House Interns.
School tours are offered Monday – Friday throughout the school year, by appointment.
Tours generally begin at 10 a.m. and take about 90-120 min.
Cost: $7 per child (the cost for Title I schools is $5 per child). There is a minimum fee of $40 per class. Please provide one adult chaperone for every 10 students. Teachers and chaperones are admitted free.
To reserve a school tour:
Phone: 718-984-6046 or Email: admin@conferencehouse.org
Conference House Association Office: 298 Satterlee Street, Staten Island, NY 10307
Conference House Museum: 7455 Hylan Blvd, Staten Island, NY 10307
