Section 1: Preservation Curriculum for Teachers

Find Your Preservation Story – Welcome!

We’re delighted you want to bring the stories of Iowa’s historic buildings into your classroom.  To get you started we want to provide you with as many helpful, exciting educational resources as possible. In this packet, you’ll find:

  • Guided lesson plans and literature recommendations for learning
  • Activity ideas for preservation education in and outside the classroom
  • Worksheets, glossaries, and guides to aid students’ preservation research
  • Resources for research and additional learning about preservation
Each of these resources comes with ideas for learning that uphold the learning objectives and principles outlined in the Iowa Core Curriculum Standards for History and Literacy education, yet are adaptable enough to be tailored to meet the needs and interests of your students as well as your teaching preferences. The interactive lesson plans provide ideas for incorporating preservation education into your classroom, but how you do so is ultimately up to you, the educator. The lesson plans may be followed exactly or simply as guides for lesson plans you design yourself. Either way, we hope they support your teaching and excite your students for learning about historic preservation.

Also, we realize that even though you are the educator, you may be learning of Preservation Iowa for the first time. For a brief description of this non-profit agency, please read the “Our Story: Preservation Iowa” introduction that follows in Section One.

If at any point you have questions about these materials or PI, please contact us at info@preservationiowa.org. Finally, we’re always interested in hearing about the stories you find or other positive experiences in your classroom, so please feel free to email your stories to our board president or use our contact box on the PI website (http://preservationiowa.org).

We hope you and your students learn a lot and uncover a few great stories, too!

Sincerely,

The Preservation Iowa Board