Call today to book your field trip to the Commonwealth Museum!

Scheduling a Trip
All field trips and group tours require a reservation. Please call 617-727-9268 to schedule. Field trips are offered FREE OF CHARGE.

Program Overview
Field trips include an exhibit tour and classroom program.
Duration – 3 hours
Capacity – 60 students

Exhibit Tour

In a ninety-minute guided program, students explore Massachusetts history and learn about the state’s role in developing rights for all Americans. Content is geared to Massachusetts curriculum frameworks. The Treasures Gallery displays rare historical materials. Interactive exhibits and a surround sound theater bring the story to life.

Museum Classroom Programs

History Explorers
For Young Students (Grades 3 – 4)

Massachusetts Symbols Game
What is the official state cookie? ...the official state muffin? Students test their knowledge of Massachusetts symbols in an exciting game show format. In a group learning exercise they will use the symbols to create posters for display at school.

Maps. Maps, Maps!
We’ve opened up the vault and pulled out antique maps that your students have a unique opportunity to explore!   After reviewing basic map skills, your students will become cartographers, making their own map of Boston that will show the changing geography of the city of Boston and, important historical sites.

History Apprentice Program
(Grades 5 through middle school)

Boston Massacre
In this fast paced program students re-enact the trial of soldiers in the Boston Massacre. Everyone has a role - witness, soldier, or wigged judge. Was Paul Revere’s famous engraving accurate or propaganda? Students weigh different points of view to decide.

Puritan Laws
Why would the Puritans ban the sale of cakes and buns? A short lesson using primary sources teaches students about this and other quirky laws.  Working in groups they create a poster with seventeenth century appeal. Do you agree that bowling should be illegal?

History Experts
(High School Programs)

Civil War Massachusetts
Massachusetts contributed over sixty regiments to the Union cause. Why did people fight? What were their most powerful experiences? Students will explore the record of three very different groups: the elite Harvard regiment; the Irish 28th regiment, and three African-American regiments.

Sacco and Vanzetti
It has been called the “case that would not die.” Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were convicted of murder in a Braintree payroll robbery. Their trial and execution became an international sensation during the 1920’s. Where they guilty or victims of prejudice against Italian immigrants and radicals? This program reviews the case and its troubling outcome.