Classroom Resources
Explore science, history, literature, and art with hands-on activities and engaging primary sources. Follow links below to access lesson plans, slideshows, and activity guides.
Blubber: Keeping Warm with Arctic Animals
Grades: K-2
Learn about blubber, an important adaptation for Arctic animals, by exploring historic images and educational videos. Investigate properties of blubber with a hands-on experiment.
Scrimshaw Art
Grades: K-8
Scrimshaw was an art form used to help whalers pass the time on long voyages. Try creating your own scrimshaw designs!
Map Skills: A Cartographer’s POV
Grades: 3-5
Investigate different types of maps by watching educational videos and examining historic documents. Analyze a Maury Whale Chart from 1851 and then create a treasure map to practice mapping skills.
An Artistic Adventure: The Grand Panorama
Grades: 3-5
Look closely at The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage 'Round the World to understand how art can tell a story. Make a zoetrope to recreate a type of entertainment from the 1800s.
Telling His Own Story: Frederick Douglass
Grades: 3-5
Examine historic photographs to learn about Frederick Douglass and his fight for the abolition of slavery. Make a song or poem inspired by his accomplishments and his life story.
Whales Giants of the Oceans
Grades: 4-6
Whales – Giants of the Ocean blends many details of the lives of these fascinating animals into a multi-lesson program that connects students to a variety of life science topics.
Journaling: Logging a New Perspective
Grades: 6-8
Explore a journal written by 14-year-old Adeline Heppingstone during a whaling voyage to the Arctic in 1882. Challenge students to keep a journal to reflect on daily events and practice writing skills.
Grades: 6-12
Examine carved whale teeth that highlight perspectives of whalers and Indigenous community members from across the Pacific world and Arctic.
Grades: 6-12
Examine carved how maps and mapping highlight perspectives of whalers and Indigenous community members from across the Pacific world and Arctic.
Grades: 6-12
Examine how drawings of life and people can highlight perspectives of whalers and Indigenous community members from across the Pacific world and Arctic.
Making Meaning from Text: Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick
Grades: 9-12
Analyze a series of artistic prints to make meaning from key passages in Herman Melville’s famed novel Moby-Dick. Use the author’s words to inspire new works of art that bring the text to life.
Adaptations: Creature Features
Grades: 9-12
Learn about behavioral, structural, and physiological adaptations in animals. Take inspiration from Creature Feature videos to storyboard content highlighting amazing animal adaptations.
