1. Check out the Teaching Michigan History page on the Department of History, Arts and Libraries Web site for ideas and resources for helping young people learn about Michigan.

2. Create classroom museums. Each class selects a different aspect of Michigan history to research and exhibit. Topics might range from prehistoric times and early industries such as logging and mining to more recent events such as the Great Depression or the sixties.

3. Hold a Michigan Week poster contest. Students illustrate what state or local heritage means to them, incorporating the Michigan Week theme, "Great Lakes, Great Traditions: The Magic of Michigan." Hang the posters in classrooms or school hallways.

4. Read aloud from a book by a Michigan author to the class each day, or read poems by Michigan authors and write your own poems with Michigan themes. See the Michigan Notable Books list or search the Michigan Authors and Illustrators database for information about books, authors and illustrators with Michigan connections.

5. Ask classes to research and nominate famous events in Michigan history for each day of the week. Broadcast one over the P.A. system each day or publish in the school newspaper.

6. Produce a school Michigan history book. Assign individual research and one-page written reports about different Michigan topics, such as one-room schools, travel by canoe during voyageur days and Henry Ford. Publish each as a page in the book, and if you have a school Web site or Intranet, publish each as a Web page.

7. Do an architectural study of your town. Photograph or sketch fronts of buildings. Describe their styles and learn when they were built and by whom. Make a display of your pictures and descriptions.

8. Encourage and work with students to participate in the National History Day competitions.

9. With all the students in the school, make a living formation of the Michigan map or other Michigan-related symbol. Photograph your design. Invite your local newspaper to come take a photo.

10. Make a Michigan history timeline to decorate your school hallway(s).

11. Ask a local historian to speak to students about community history or invite a historical re-enactor to bring a bit of Michigan history to life.

12. Learn Michigan songs. (For example, "Michigan, My Michigan" (PDF). See also the Library of Michigan Digital Sheet Music Collection.) Perform the songs for residents of a senior citizens center or for children at a day care center.

13. Find a "sister school" in another geographic area of Michigan. Exchange information about your schools and towns. Visit each other if possible.

14. Sponsor a clean-up day around your school, picking up litter and brush.

15. Visit your history at the Michigan Historical Center in Lansing. If you can't come to Lansing, visit another Michigan museum.

16. Make a list of streets in your town named after people, and research the roles people honored with street names played in community, state or national history.

17. Learn how students went to school 100 or more years ago. Spend a school day doing the same types of lessons.

18. Learn a historical craft such as weaving or making cornhusk dolls. Make a display of your accomplishments.

19. Invite an author, artist, photographer or musician who features Michigan or Great Lakes themes to speak to students about their work.

20. Study your county. When did it become a county and how did it get its name? (Click here for more information about Michigan's counties.) Why is the county seat where it is?  What does the county seal look like?  What are your county's chief industries, crops and recreation areas?  Make a map of Michigan highlighting your county.

21. Study how a bill becomes a law in Michigan. Write an imaginary law and after assigning roles, enact the necessary legislative, executive and judicial steps in its enactment.

22. Learn about Michigan's contribution to the Underground Railroad during the years of slavery and the Civil War. Make a map of Underground Railroad routes and find out if your town played a part in assisting slaves seeking freedom.

23. Celebrate things made in Michigan. Collect and create a display of containers and advertising for Michigan-made products. Plan a classroom lunch featuring Michigan foods (see recipes made with Michigan products). Learn where the products are grown or manufactured. Check out this clickable map of Michigan commodities.

24. Visit a farm or ranch and learn about the contributions of Michigan agriculture to our daily lives.

25. Write a play or short skits about famous Michiganians, from prehistoric peoples to twentieth century inventors. Make a puppet for each person, add scenery and secondary puppet characters and perform the plays as puppet shows for other classes.

26. Learn about the city matched with yours in the Mayors Exchange. Invite someone from your mayor's office to address a school assembly about the program and your city's exchange activities.

27. Celebrate Michigan music! Set aside a special time each day to listen to music by Motown performers, Michigan folk singers and rock-and-rollers, and local artists who have produced cassettes or CDs.

28. Locate historic sites in your community by searching Michigan's Historic Sites Online from the State Historic Preservation Office. Prepare a walking tour of the buildings, with information and photos.  Encourage students to take photos of their favorite sites and enter them in the  Michigan Week Youth Photo Contest.

29. Study current events by putting pictures of Michigan personalities and places from newspapers and news magazines on a bulletin board. Have students answer "Who am I?" or "Where is it?" and "Why am I in the news?" about as many as they can. Have a sharing time for reporting back.

30. Inventory the natural resources in your community or around your school. What kinds of trees, birds, plants and insects do you see? Learn the roles they play in your environment.

31. Have fun and learn with Michigan math! Use data from the Michigan Department of Transportation state map and other sources to calculate average size of specified cities, total number of campsites, distances between map points, bridge tolls for "x" numbers of vehicles and estimated lengths of rivers.

32. Investigate Michigan higher education and hold a classroom school spirit contest. Set up displays about different Michigan universities and colleges after learning about the schools' origins, programs of study, sports records and cultural features. Invite someone from a nearby college to speak to the students about the school and higher education.

33. Plant a native Michigan tree or a heritage garden for future generations to enjoy.

34. Have a Michigan spelling bee. Let students make up their own word list from their Michigan studies (e.g., voyageur, lumberjack, automobile, Motown) or from maps, brochures and books about the state.

35. Help students create a Michigan board game with challenging questions and exciting consequences. Make and laminate copies of the game. Spend part of a Michigan Week afternoon playing the game and learning about Michigan.

36. Learn about work life in Michigan. Ask a retail store, factory, bank or other business in your area if it would be willing to provide a "behind the scenes" tour and tell students how people prepare for jobs in that business. Prepare students carefully for the experience and send thank-you letters afterward!

37. Partner with a senior citizens' center to interview seniors about the past. After returning to school, write and illustrate their stories from your notes. Return to share your products with them personally.

38. Investigate Michigan myths - stories and folklore that Native Americans and ethnic groups who settled here used to explain natural phenomena. Then write your own myths to explain why Michigan has copper or iron underground, how we got our Great Lakes, why the great white pines grew here or why the Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula.

39. Write classified ads for job opportunities in Michigan 100 years ago - lumberjacks, miners, shopkeepers, mill hands, farmers and others. Compare them with jobs available today. What differences and similarities do you find in job titles, task requirements, necessary skills and education?

40. Celebrate Michigan Week your own unique way, May 17-23, 2008!

Updated 2/4/2008