In the Classroom

Group of young children sitting on the steps of schoolhouse. Black and white image
Ashton School Children

The Park has been digital resources that educators can use in the classroom. Local schools can also reserve an in-person classroom visit from a Park Ranger, or if further away, a digital visit. Please see the links below for more information about reserving a classroom visit, lesson plans, and other digital resources.


Video Resources:

The Park's YouTube page provides dozens of videos that investigate the history of the Blackstone River Valley.

Suggested Videos for self-guided tours:


Lesson Plans

The Rhode Island Historical Society, in partnership with NPS, created lesson plans designed to meet the curriculum standards for fourth grade students in Rhode Island and across the country.

Please see the tabs below to access the lesson plans:

 
Image of a family of 5
Alice (Hadfield) Timperley and Oral His

Oral histories are excellent ways to preserve the past. Students will learn the story of Alice Hadfield, a resident of Ashton.

Wood cut of group of soldiers in front of buildling
Conflicting Values: Brown and Ballou

This lesson plan invites students to consider the conflicting views of leading abolitionists in the years leading to the Civil War.

Group of young children in front of building holding dolls
Culture and Community

This lesson highlights the importance of recognizing and celebrating the diversity of those who lived in the Valley.

Young woman wearing green dress hold piece of cotton thread in hand in front of a machine
History Detective: First Strike

In this lesson, students will analyze primary source documents about America's First Strike in 1824 in Pawtucket, RI

4-story brick mill with bell tower and train in the foreground
Innovation in Transportation

This lesson will have students identify various modes of transportation used from the 1800s into the 1900s.

Group of men standing around looms
Learning about Mill Workers

This lesson will have students use primary sources to learn about some of the mill workers and their jobs at the Lonsdale Company in RI.

Man in black suit with black hair
The Life of Captain Wilbur Kelly

This lesson will have students practice using primary and secondary sources in order to learn about the past.

Woman sitting in front of a machine
Looming and Learning

This lesson plan is intended to make students think critically about how clothing is manufactured today and why.

Large cans filled with marbles
Manufacturing with Marbles at Ashton

This lesson will have students examine several products manufactured by Owens-Corning at the Ashton Mill in Rhode Island from 1941 to 1983.

Painting of a gathering of people around a large table with trees in the background and US flag
Peace Picnics and Community in Hopedale

This speech-focused lesson highlights the importance of community events and networks of communication among abolitionists in Hopedale, MA.

Young man throws trash onto a pile of debris
Project ZAP! Blackstone River Cleanup

This lesson will have students use historical thinking skills by analyzing two primary sources related to the Blackstone cleanup in 1972.

Trees in the foreground with series of brick homes in the background
The Rhode Island System of Mill Villages

This lesson gives students the opportunity to learn more about the community of Ashton and discover their own community's history.

Wood cut of white male wearing black suit with white hair
Samuel Slater: Hero or Traitor

Samuel Slater is regarded as a traitor in his hometown of Belper, England but a hero in the US. This lesson plan focuses on Slater's story.

Group of enslaved laborers work picking cotton in a field
Slave Cloth and the Slater Fund

Learn about the connections between Slavery and the textile system and the steps of one industrialist to right historic wrongs

Group of child laborers posing for a picture
Women and Children in the Mill Village

In this lesson, students will practice examining a set of images where women or children are the main subjects of the photographs.

 

Classroom Visit Requests

The Park offers ranger-led classroom visits for schools in Rhode Island. If you are interested in having a staff member come to your class, please email Park Ranger Allison Horrocks, call at 401-318-4883, or fill out the form below. 

Please note that this is not a reservation. Park staff will reach out with more information.

NPS Form 10-1750 (Rev. 04/2021)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0228

Disclaimer:

A park representative will follow-up to confirm group details once this request has been received and reviewed.


NPS Form 10-1750 (Rev. 04/2021)
National Park Service

OMB Control No. 1024-0228

Notices

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: Public Law 114-289 National Park Service Centennial Act and 54 U.S.C. 100701 Protection, interpretation, and research in System.

Purpose: To administer education programs for education audiences including but not limited to school groups, scouting groups, extracurricular groups, and home school groups.

Routine Uses: To effectively manage requests for education received by the NPS, the Education Reservation Request Form is used to collect basic education reservation information to facilitate operational aspects of scheduling groups for park education programs, including in-park education programs, ranger in classroom programs, and/or online distance learning programs.

Disclosure: Voluntary, however, failure to provide the requested information may impede the ability to grant your education reservation request.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

We are collecting this information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501) to provide park managers and educators the information needed to schedule and conduct education program activities. All applicable parts of the form must be completed in order for your request to be considered. You are not required to respond to this or any other Federal agency-sponsored information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. OMB has approved this collection of information and assigned control number 1024-0288.

Estimated Burden Statement

Public reporting for this collection of information is estimated to average 5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525. Do not send your completed form to this address.

Last updated: April 3, 2026

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

67 Roosevelt Ave
Pawtucket, RI 02860

Phone:

(401) 725-8638

Contact Us