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For immediate release |
Contact: JEN BURFORD
Carey O’Donnell PR Group
(561) 832-3231
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SCHOOL DISTRICT AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PALM
BEACH COUNTY LAUNCH INNOVATIVE FOURTH-GRADE HISTORY PROGRAM
PALM BEACH, Fla. (August, 2003)--- The Historical
Society of Palm Beach County and the School District of
Palm Beach County have partnered to create a nine-week history
education program for the county’s 14,500 fourth-graders.
Co-sponsored by Wachovia Bank and philanthropist and activist
Gay Hart Gaines, the program will begin in the fall of 2003
in fourth-grade public school classrooms throughout the
county. It will provide students with an in-depth instruction
on the rich and diverse history of Florida and Palm Beach
County, a required course of study under the Florida Sunshine
State Standards for fourth-grade education.
“The value of teaching our children
the history of our state and county is immeasurable,”
said Dr. Art Johnson, Superintendent of the Palm Beach County
School District. “History provides an opportunity
for today’s society to learn from the past. It also
gives children a sense of identity and context about where
they live. Through this program, students will learn about
the collective human experiences that have shaped our state.
I’m confident that this program will be enthusiastically
received by students, parents and the entire county.”
The fourth-grade history education program
is divided into nine, one-week segments:
1) Geography, Location and Climate of Florida;
2) Early Native Americans of Florida;
3) Colonial Florida 1513 - 1819;
4) Territorial Florida 1821 – 1845;
5) Florida through the Civil War 1845 - 1865;
6) Pioneers 1866 – 1885;
7) The Flagler Era 1898 - 1925;
8) The Great Depression through World War II 1926 - 1945;
9) Post World War II to the Present.
The program’s curriculum includes a
text booklet with nine sections printed by The Palm
Beach Post and eight supplemental 15-minute videos
produced by WPBF Channel 25, each corresponding to the history
lesson for that week. Palm Beach County school teachers,
in conjunction with the Historical Society of Palm Beach
County, developed the content for the booklet, which includes
historical timelines, historical images and lesson quizzes.
The videos, narrated by Historical Society board member
and WPBF Channel 25 news anchor, Tiffany Kenney, feature
images from the Historical Society’s vast archived
collection of photographs, journals, historical documents
and artifacts.
“The importance of learning our history
is rapidly gaining recognition throughout the county, as
evidenced by the strong support of this program,”
said Harvey Oyer, president of the Historical Society of
Palm Beach County. “Our goal is to continue to expand
this program by incorporating the Historical Society’s
planned county-wide history museum into the curriculum,
and making it available to eighth-graders who are also required
to learn Florida history. Once the history museum is completed
inside the soon-to-be-restored 1916 courthouse in downtown
West Palm Beach, Florida and Palm Beach County history will
come to life for students from around the county, as they
engage in class field trips to the museum, participate in
archeological excavations and learn from the interactive
exhibits and state-of-the-art multimedia presentations.”
For more information about the fourth-grade
education program, contact the Historical Society of Palm
Beach County executive director, Loren Mintz, at (561) 832-4164,
or School District of Palm Beach County’s Public Affairs’
Specialist, Vickie Middlebrooks, at (561) 357-7661.
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