Field Trips and Student Programs
Historic Johnson Farm is open for field trips for the 2024-2025 school year for all grade levels. Please call the farm at 828-891-6585 or email jfarm@hcpsnc.org to schedule your field trip. We also welcome homeschool groups; please call for more information.
All field trips include a tour of the farm house, wagon ride, visit with the farm animals, and a number of hands-on, interactive rotations based on the students’ grade level. Rotations are listed below. Groups are welcome to end their trip with a picnic lunch.
Students participate in a one-room school house lesson.
*BRAND NEW PROGRAM! Cars: Then vs. Now (3rd-5th grade): Students will learn about the Johnsons’ first car, a 1924 Model T by exploring the actual car and learning how car technology has changed over time. Then they will split into groups and be given “money” to design a car with the safety features they think are most important.
Environmental Education (all grades): Students will take a nature walk while completing a nature scavenger hunt. The guide will stop along the way to talk about plants and animals they come across.
Farm Life (2nd grade and below): Students will experience what daily farm chores were like by milking the (fake) cow, collecting eggs, moving hay and water buckets, learning about the life cycle of plants, and more.
Farm House Tour (all grades): Students will tour the 1880 farm house and learn the history of the farm and the Johnson family. Younger students will stay on the first floor and will participate in a “Guess the Artifact” game. Older students will participate in a scavenger hunt upstairs.
Heritage Education (all grades): Facilitator will lead students in a heritage based craft and/or story. When available, Cherokee storyteller Virginia Blackfeather Thompson will lead this station.
Heritage Weavers and Fiber Artists Visit (all grades): The Heritage Weavers and Fiber Artists (HWFA) will read a fiber related story. They will also give short demonstrations throughout, such as spinning and dyeing. *4th & 5th grade-HWFA has designed a new program specifically for older elementary that has the students doing calculations to figure out how long it would take for each step of the process and how much it would cost to buy a handmade blanket. *Stairs required.
One Room School House (2nd grade and above): Students will have a chance to experience what a day would be like in a one room school house by learning about different aspects of the school day including group learning, old forms of discipline and schoolhouse chores. *Small set of stairs to enter building.
Primary Source Analysis (3rd grade and above): This station allows students to become junior historians by asking questions and drawing conclusions. Students will work in groups to look at pictures of the Johnson family and farm to try to learn about their daily life. Students will learn that while we may not know everything about a photograph, we can infer certain things based on observations.
Junior Interpreters
Junior Interpreters is a club open to any students in 6th-8th grade. Club members learn about volunteering at the farm and help out with special events and day camps. The first meeting of the 2024-2025 year will be held Thursday, August 29 at 3:15 PM. If you are interested in being added to the club’s email list, please email jfarm@hcpsnc.org.
Junior Interpreter flyer