Published Date: September 1, 2020

There are 61 schools in Champaign County with a little more than 25,000 students in grades K-12. But only one educational entity in Champaign County has all those students, their parents, their grandparents, and their great-grandparents in mind: the Museum of the Grand Prairie.

Each year the Museum hosts exhibits, highlighting the development of land and the movements of people. Visitors from across East Central Illinois come to their building to learn about blacksmiths and to do traditional dances. 

But what many people do not know about is the learning tubs that have been developed to help local teachers bring national history and its regional influencers to life. 

Education Program Specialist Katie Snyder, a former classroom teacher, said that the tubs are available for classroom use, even under current models of learning, whether they be in the classroom or online. 

The Museum has put together two civil rights boxes full of children’s books, secondary photographs, and information about what happened locally during the 1950s and ’60s as the nation worked towards social justice.

“There are so many great picture books about history these days,” Snyder said. “If you want to learn about history, read a children’s picture book because it condenses to 32 pages with really great illustrations and the illustrations are just kind of incredible.