School Programs

History Park

1650 Senter Road | San Jose, CA 95112

Early to Rise: Child’s Work and Play in Early San Jose (Grades 1-3)
Mondays – Fridays
9:30 am – 10:45 am & 11:10 am – 12:25 pm
25-50 students | 6 chaperones
$13.00 per student (Minimum payment: $286)
When did a child’s day begin in the mid-1800s? This interactive program is an immersive experience for students to compare their lives today and the lives of rural Santa Clara County children of the 1870s. Students do laundry in an 1860s washing machine, milk a cow, gather eggs and grind coffee beans for breakfast at the Umbarger House. They also get to mind their manners, read from a 19th-century primer, practice writing on slates, and explore the Santa Ana One-Room Schoolhouse.

Historic Transportation Experience (Grades 1-3)
Thursdays & Fridays
9:30 am – 10:45 am & 11:10 am – 12:25 pm
18-36 students | 4-6 chaperones
$13.00 per student (Minimum payment: $286)
How did innovations in travel and transportation in the early 20th century change how people moved themselves and their goods? During this engaging program, students explore History San José’s antique vehicle collection and ride the ​​1912 San Jose Trolley, comparing and contrasting the different power sources (horses, electricity, and combustion engines) that moved people 100 years ago and the innovations in transportation technology that shaped where people choose to live and work.

History Park Tour (Grades 4-12+)
Mondays – Sundays
9:30 am – 10:45 am & 11:10 am – 12:25 pm
10-30 students | 2-6 chaperones
$10.00 per student (Minimum payment: $120)
Today Santa Clara Valley is the global center for high technology and innovation. San José, however, has been at the forefront of social and economic change since the 1860s. The tour offers students the opportunity to explore the grounds of History Park and learn about the ways in which people worked and lived in San José from 1850 to 1970. Through this tour, students discover how people utilized the valley’s resources to reshape their environment and transform the region into a global innovation center.

Immigration: What’s Your Story? (Grades 4-8)
Mondays – Fridays
9:30 am – 11:45 am
20-36 students | 4-6 chaperones
$13.00 per student (Minimum payment: $286)
Students step into the shoes of four immigrants—a Chinese boy in the 1890s, a Portuguese girl fleeing a volcanic eruption in the 1950s, a Mexican guest worker in the 1950s, and a Vietnamese refugee mother in the 1980s—and ponder how immigration policies and cultural identity shape a person’s life in San José. Throughout this innovative field trip students explore historic artifacts to compare the motivations, challenges, and triumphs most immigrants face when moving to a new country.

Grant funding available for this program through the Chinese Historical and Cultural Project.

Valley of Heart’s Delight (Grades 3-5)
Mondays – Fridays
9:30 am – 11:45 am
24-36 students | 6 chaperones
$13.00 per student (Minimum payment: $286)
How did Santa Clara County farmers utilize innovations and technologies of the Second Industrial Revolution to improve production and turn the valley into the hub of the fruit canning industry? During this program, students flex their engineering, graphic design, and math skills to gain an appreciation for the valley’s agricultural history and the most well-recognized companies of the 20th century—Del Monte, Orchard Supply Hardware, and Bank of America. Students complete hands-on challenges by placing themselves in the shoes of an 1880s family farmer, a turn-of-the-century cannery worker, and a 1930s business owner and learn what it takes to turn the region into the Valley of Heart’s Delight.

Westward Ho! (Grades 4-5)
Mondays – Fridays
9:30 am – 12:00 am
24-36 students | 6 chaperones
$14.00 per student (Minimum payment: $306)
What motivated people to trek overland in the 1840s and 1850s and what challenges did they face along the way? In this highly interactive experience, school groups plan and prepare for a trip West in a covered wagon. They experience the many hardships travelers faced, the tasks they had to do to ensure a successful trip, and what kids did to entertain themselves on the trail. Students also learn how this historical phenomenon affected indigenous communities already in the West and how the transcontinental railroad transformed westward migration in the 1870s.

Sponsored by The California Pioneers of Santa Clara County

Collections Center

1661 Senter Road | San Jose, CA 95112

History Detectives (Grades 4-8)
Tuesdays & Thursdays
9:30 am – 11:00 am
20-32 students | 4-6 chaperones
$13.00 per student (Minimum payment: $286)
What does it take to be a great historian? During the History Detectives programs, students collaborate and think critically to solve a mystery in the HSJ Collection Center. They actively investigate clues left from the past—primary sources and artifacts—asking questions and synthesizing all the evidence to test out a hypothesis about 19th-century San José. Also included is a lively, inquiry-based treasure hunt through the vast Collection Center.

Gonzales/Peralta Adobe-Fallon House Historic Site

Adobe: 184 W. Saint John Street | San Jose, CA 95110

Historic House: 175 W. Saint John Street | San Jose, CA 95110

Adobe Days (Grades 4)
Mondays – Fridays
9:30 am – 12:00 pm
20-35 students | 5-6 chaperones
$13.00 per student (Minimum payment: $286)
Students travel back to El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe in 1797 and explore the oldest house in San José, getting to see a hammock made of hide, a whale-bone chair, and other artifacts from the Spanish and Mexican periods. Through interactive activities such as making a candle and corn husk dolls, designing a cattle brand, grinding corn, and roping a model cow, students experience life in Alta California. They gain an appreciation for what it takes to build a community and connect with the joys and struggles of daily colonial life for the early Spanish settlers of San José.

Gracious Living: Victorian Women and Culture in San José [formerly Victorian Days] (Grades 3-4)
Mondays – Fridays
9:30 am – 12:00 pm
20-36 students | 5-6 chaperones
$13.00 per student (Minimum payment: $286)
Students explore the home of Carmela and Thomas Fallon, experiencing the social customs of the Victorian era. Inside the “fanciest house in San José,” students immerse themselves in the lives of both domestic servants and Fallon family members, setting the table, practicing Victorian etiquette, and celebrating Isabella Fallon’s 9th birthday in 1870. Through this program, students increase their awareness of how gender and class norms of the late 19th century continue to influence the habits and behaviors of people in the present.

Gonzales/Peralta Adobe & Carmela & Thomas Fallon House Tour (Grade 4-12+)
Mondays – Fridays
9:30 am – 10:45 am & 11:00 am – 12:25 pm
Max. 14 students | 2-3 chaperones
$10.00 per student (Minimum payment: $100)
Students get to experience San José before cars, computers, and smartphones. They are welcomed into the Gonzales/Peralta Adobe and Carmela & Thomas Fallon House, two restored historic homes in the heart of San José. There, they journey through the past and see how San José transformed from El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe in the late 1770s to California’s first state capital in 1850. Through the tour, they explore why people moved into the region and changed the world around them.

Roberto Adobe & Suñol House

770 Lincoln Ave | San Jose, CA 9511