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Change In Park Schedule
Starting on Monday, April 22nd, 2013, the John Muir National Historic Site will be operating under new days and hours. We will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 10am-5pm. The press release regarding change in operating hours can be downloaded at link. More »
For Teachers
School Group Tours Bring your class to John Muir NHS! Come learn about the man, his life and his legacy. Park staff is available to join your group seven days a week, but the maximum number we can handle is roughly 70 people (or two classes). Picnic tables and the full park are open to you. Please pack out all trash. Traditionally, tours begin at 10:00 with a 20 minute film about John Muir called A Glorious Journey. Then, classes join park staff on a trip through the house and orchards that lasts until noon. Groups often picnic in the gardens and return to school afterward. Schedule early! Spaces fill up for Spring tours (February to mid-June) very quickly, so schedule your tour as soon as you have a date in mind!
Curriculum Material Please feel free to download any of these items for use in your classroom
What's New We are constantly updating our program and are open to new ideas. For the 2012-13 school year, the 3rd and 4th grade tour has been reworked to look at the lives of the people who supported John Muir (in recognition of curriculum standards of California Community and California History). Students wear character cards around their necks and they present the information to the class. Park staff guide students through the house and grounds.We also look forward to doing more outdoor programing. This year, students have enjoyed blind tree studies (using the senses of smell, touch, hearing and taste) and have played tag games that explain food webs and global climate change. Please share with us your curricular needs and we will provide outdoor, kinesthetic and active learning for your students.
Where We're Going Within the next five years, we look forward to offering three learning tracks for students of all grades. These tracks pull heavily from the new Common Core Curriculum. Teaching focus is more on skills and less on information. John Muir as Environmental Activist: In this track, students will learn to analyze, cite, evaluate and integrate information that connects to John Muir's legacy in order to present a persuasive argument. This could start with writing analyses, continue with outdoor exploration and end with students writing their own "activist" work.
Suggested Reading You may like to read "Son of the Wilderness, The Life of John Muir", written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Linnie Marsh Wolfe, which is required reading for all rangers and volunteers at John Muir NHS. The only book John Muir ever wrote for children is the story he told his two daughters around the dining room table. That story of a small black dog with a big curly tail and an even bigger heart is called: "Stickeen". Books Written By John Muir
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Did You Know?
"...a place of beginnings abounding in first lessons on life, mountain building, eternal, invincible, unbreakable order; with sermons in stones, storms, trees, flowers, and animals brimful with humanity."
OUR NATIONAL PARKS, John Muir