Just for Educators
| More than 90,000 school-aged children visit the Witte Museum every year. About 25,000 of those participate in educational programs provided by the Witte. We want to assure that their time here is educational, as well as enjoyable. |
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In order to help teachers provide a vital educational experience for their students, the Office of Public Programs at the Witte Museum works hard to make every field trip experience stimulating and fun for the children, while also reinforcing Texas Essential Knowlege and Skills objectives. For every major exhibit, we develop educational guides, and attempt to make clear which TAKS/TEKS requirements are met. It is our hope that through the field trip experience, students will gain a higher level of interest in history and science, which they will carry back to the classroom.
Support for the Witte Museum website and educational outreach is genously provided by the Dickson Allen Foundation. |
We also understand that none of this can happen if teachers are not able to bring their students to the Witte Museum. To offer help when needed, certain scholarships are provided for transportation. These awards are made available based on need and available funds. For more information, contact reservations@wittemuseum.org
If you would like to share ideas with us or be notified about upcoming events, please call us at 210.357.1901 or email lynnechristopher@wittemuseum.org
Witte Exhibit Guides with Pre- and Post-Visit Activities for the Classroom***
These extension activities and educator guides are designed to maximize your visit to the museum.
Current Exhibits
Ancient Texans: Rock Art & Lifeways Along the Lower Pecos
A Brush with Ancient Texans (Rock Art)
Texas Wild! Ecology Illustrated
Dinosaurs - Vanished Texans
Mummies: Unwrapping the Past (Ancient Egypt)
Gallery Theater
“Push Back the Chairs” (Creative Dramatics)
A Wild and Vivid Land: South Texas Heritage
Past Exhibits
In the Dark
World of Water - Background Information, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 6-8 Historic Images, TEKS
Revealing Character: Robb Kendrick's Texas Tintypes
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Pre- and Post-Visit Activities*
For scheduled Interactive School Programs and Workshops. To learn more about programs and workshops, visit Programs for Students.
Grades K-2 - Solids, Liquids and Gases, Dino Digs, or Animals in Action
Grades 3-5 - What’s Hot? What’s Not, Dino Defenses, or Habitat Happenings
Grades 6-8 - Reactions in Action, Dino Detectives, or Eco-Challenge
Grades 6-12 - Fantastic Forces
Workshops - Ancient Texan Technology, From River to Sink, Live, Local Weather, What's For Dinner?
*Presented in printable PDF format. Click here for a free Adobe PDF Reader.
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Outreach Gallery Theater
Bring history alive for your students through the Witte Museum’s Outreach Gallery Theater program, now available for school and classroom performances. These 20-25 minute dramatic plays are guaranteed to make history engaging and fun. Performed by professional actors using authentic costumes and props, Outreach Gallery Theater plays are packed with information while providing an entertaining learning experience.
Go to fees
The following plays are available to schedule (click on the title for a description):
Vaquero y Cowboy: A Campfire Conversation
Playwright: Bryce Milligan
Setting: South Texas, near the town of San Antonio in 1885
Characters: José Encarnación Guerrero, a vaquero and Luke O’Reilly, a Texas-born cowboy
Time: 20-25 minutes
José is on a journey to San Antonio to have his photograph taken wearing the special charro clothing he carries. Luke arrives with the intentions of joining José. He too plans to have a photograph made. The young men discuss their lives and family histories. As the play concludes the two characters continue their journey together, friends who have gained more insight into one another’s values, traditions and cultures.
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Encounter at Panther Cave
Playwright: Bryce Milligan
Setting: Panther Cave Rock Shelter in the Lower Pecos area of Texas
Character: An archaeologist and the Panther Shaman
Time: 20-25 minutes
A present-day archeologist spends the night in Panther Cave, a shelter used by prehistoric Indians of Texas. During the night, the archeologist encounters the spirit of the Panther Shaman, whose image is painted on the rock shelter wall.
As they try to understand each other’s worlds, the Panther Shaman dramatically recreated his first hunting experience. In doing so, he tells the story of a people who lived 4, 000 years ago− “at one with the land.”
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Millie’s War
Playwright: Jeffrey Kinghorn
Setting: Hometown, U.S.A.
Character: Millie Smith, wife and mother, whose husband is overseas fighting in World War II
Time: 20-25 minutes
Millie Smith is typical of the women who stayed on the American home front while their husbands were away, fighting in World War II. Victory gardens and rationing were the norm. Most women were working, many raising families single-handedly, while facing the possibility that their loved ones might be killed in battle at any time. Millie tells the poignant story of her neighbors, a Japanese-American family. Although their two sons are soldiers in the U.S. Army, their family suffers the loss of their business, their home, and ultimately their freedom, when they are sent to a relocation camp. Trying to make sense of all the events and changes swirling around her, Millie gives a voice to the often neglected story of the women left at home during World War II.
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Noble Lofton, Buffalo Soldier
Playwright: Celeste Bedford Walker
Setting: Fort Concho, Texas in 1877
Character: Corporal Noble Lofton, an African American trooper in the Tenth Regiment of Cavalry, U.S. Army
Time: 20-25 minutes
Marching on stage in uniform, Noble Lofton welcomes the audience to Fort Concho. He gives them a briefing about the Tenth, a regiment of black soldiers stationed on the West Texas plains, whose duties include making the area safe for settlers and helping keep law and order. American Indians named these “colored” troopers, buffalo soldiers, because, as Noble says, “We put ‘em in mind of a buffalo, ‘cause of our hair and ‘cause we tough like buffalo.” Noble reminisces about his family, life under slavery, gaining his freedom, working as a cowboy in East Texas and his experiences as a soldier with the Tenth Cavalry.
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1838: A Moment Between Wars
Playwright: Bryce Milligan
Setting: San Antonio de Bejar, 1838
Characters: José Francisco Ruíz and José Antonio Navarro, the only two native-born
Texan signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence
Time: 20-25 minutes
José Francisco Ruíz and José Antonio Navarro, the only two native-born Texan signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, meet for an afternoon's stroll. Texas history unfolds as they reminisce about their roles in creating the Republic and the events that influenced their lives.
Underwriting for 1838: A Moment Between Wars has been generously provided by the Marcia and Otto Koehler Foundation.
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Outreach Gallery Theater Fees
One actor plays:
Millie’s War
Noble Lofton, Buffalo Soldier
*One performance : $80
Two performances: $115
Three performances :$145
*These are per day fees. For more than three performances per day each
additional performance is $25.00 (e.g. 4 performances = $145 + $25=170)
Two actor plays:
Vaquero y Cowboy: A Campfire Conversation
Encounter at Panther Cave
*One performance : $115
Two performances: $165
Three performances: $215
*These are per day fees. If there are more than three performances per day each
additional show costs is $50.00 (e.g. 4 performances $215 + $50 = $265)
Mileage reimbursement is included in the honorarium rate for performances inside the San Antonio metropolitan area. For performances outside a 35 mile radius of the San Antonio metropolitan area mileage will be billed at the rate of 41¢ each mile.
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Special Deals for Teachers
FREE Admission
Teachers get in FREE when they bring their students to visit the Witte Museum. For pre-scheduled groups of 15 or more, one adult is admitted free with every 10 students. Additional adults pay the regular student group rate. Click here to learn more about group visits.
Free Tuesdays
Through the generosity of the Frost Bank Charitable Foundation, Bolner’s Fiesta Products, Mrs. Martha Landsman, Mr. and Mrs. John Feik, and Mr. and Mrs. Comer Alden, the Witte Museum is open FREE from 3-8 pm every Tuesday. It’s a great time to preview exhibits before bringing your class on a visit to the museum.
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