Lesson Plans: Our Local History
Teachers or home school educators who want to enrich their Florida history curriculum may use these exciting history topics to enhance or enrich classroom studies. Click on any of the following titles:
On-line Exhibits
Can't make it to a museum exhibit at Town Hall? The Boca Raton Historical Society provides on-line exhibits for cyber viewing! The BRHS's Remembering Pearl City is an excellent resource for learning about Boca Raton's historic African-American neighborhood and its residents. Check out other current on-line Exhibits for both educators and students on the historical society's website.
Video: The History of Boca Raton
 The History of Boca Raton
Through interviews, archival film, and more than 300 historical photographs, witness how a group of visionaries defined and helped develop this city. Hear pioneers, residents, and historians describe Boca Raton's early days and its many changes. In its brief history, this original small pioneer farming community was continually redefined: first, as an exclusive destination for the rich; then as a World War II radar training base; a 1950s family tourist destination; a religious vacation center; the birthplace of IBM personal computer; and finally as a wealthy, bustling, year round city.
This 50-minute documentary is offered to teachers free of charge
Books for Boca
 Books for Boca is a community-wide program developed and facilitated by the Boca Raton Historical Society. Corporations, organizations, and individuals participate by underwriting the cost of a set of books (30) entitled A Stroll Through Boca Raton's Early History From A to Z for individual school classrooms or a school library. Teachers may contact the historical society to request or suggest a sponsor for a set of books to be donated to their classroom or school's media center.
A Stroll Through Boca Raton's Early History From A to Z is an excellent resource for the elementary (and middle) classroom. As a learning technique, A-Z works well with children of all ages since younger children can relate to the alphabet and pictures while older students are able to read and relate to the text. The educational children's book was written by Deborah Marraffino Rothberger in collaboration with the Boca Raton Historical Society. She has lived in Boca Raton since 1969 and has taught fourth and fifth grades for more than 15 years. She holds a B.S. in Elementary Education and a master's degree in Reading (K-12).
Archival Services
The Boca Raton Historical Society's library is available to all teachers (and students) for local historic research and tours. The BRHS collections contains a large variety of resources such as diaries, maps, reference books, historic photos, oral histories, city directories, etc. that can serve as primary resources and additional research materials.
The Archives Department has recently digitalized back issues of its local Newspaper Collection, (Boca Raton News, The Pelican, and The Tattler), as well as its own published Spanish River Papers. These hometown newspapers are available through the BRHS website and the Archives Department, located at Town Hall.
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