Coquillon, Naomi and Jenny Wei. “National Museum of American History's OurStory Program: History, Literature, and Civic Literacy.” (2011)

In 1998, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center launched OurStory: History through Children’s Literature, a history and literacy program series for family visitors to the Museum that was designed to help children and adults enjoy exploring history together. Ten years later, to reach a broader, national audience, the Museum began an online version of the program that was designed to give families at home the resources they need to discover Museum objects and exhibitions, read award-winning children’s literature together with assistance from reading guides, and continue exploring history with hands-on family activities, suggestions for further museum visits, and more. These online materials now consist of more than fifty activities framed around fourteen children’s books. Through this program, the Museum builds reading skills, historical content knowledge, and parent-child interactions, and addresses the need for interdisciplinary resources at the elementary level. This essay focuses on three structured, skill-based activities from three OurStory resource sets, which, in an effort to make real-world connections for students, not only combine literacy skills and historical content, but also encourage young people to become active and informed citizens.