Field Trips & Teachers' Resources

Information about school field trip programs, Digital Interpretive Programs, and resources for teachers.

Teachers' Resources

This specially designed Teachers’ Guide provide a one-stop resource for teachers based on the Chinese Railroad Workers' Experience exhibit. Guides include: Comprehensive historical background information, bibliographic resource list, and plug-and-play writing, art, oral history, primary resource, and activities connected to the exhibit.

Teachers Guide: Chinese Railroad Workers

The Museum has created digital editions of our popular school programs and exhibits. These programs are entertaining and educational for students. Don’t miss these experiences for you and your students.

For more information, contact the California State Railroad Museum Group Desk at [email protected] or (916) 323-9274.

CSRM Digital Interpretive Programs and materials meet California Curriculum and Common Core educational standards.

CSRM CLASSROOM LIVE: WESTWARD BOUND

Westward travel on the Transcontinental Railroad represented a triumph against time for nineteenth-century travelers. First-class tourists expected a luxurious travel experience, while emigrants wanted safe passage to start their new lives in California. Set on the site of the 1876 Central Pacific Passenger Station in Old Sacramento State Historic Park, Westward Bound explores what it was like to travel on the Transcontinental Railroad and how it made the transportation of people and goods easier, safer, and cheaper than ever before.

Recommended Grades: 4th & 5th Grade

Includes: CSRM Guide & Live Parks Staff Moderator
Format: Zoom
Program Limit: 3 Classrooms
Dates: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays
Time: Check the booking site below for specific times

Program Registration

CSRM CLASSROOM LIVE: HORSES TO HORSEPOWER

Hop on board one of our virtual Horses to Horsepower programs to experience what it was like to build the nation’s first Transcontinental Railroad more than 150 years ago! Your conductor will escort you to five different stations located throughout the California State Railroad Museum. Discover how Transcontinental Railroad reduced travel time, inspired innovation, encouraged western settlement, and enabled California’s agriculture industry to grow. The Transcontinental Railroad changed life in America forever!

Join a CSRM Guide and Q&A Chat Moderator for a live, interactive, and personalized Zoom program of our popular Horses to Horsepower program for 4th grade.

Recommended Grades: 4th & 5th Grade

Includes: CSRM Guide & Live Parks Staff Moderator
Format: Zoom
Program Limit: 3 Classrooms
Dates: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays
Time: Check the booking site below for specific times

Program Registration

ACTIVITY CENTER

Visit our activity center for program related, interactive and pdf downloadable activities including: Math problems, Oral history prompts, word searches, coloring book pages, and more!

Activity Center

FIELD TRIPS

Please check back for upcoming program dates and registration.

WESTWARD BOUND: TRAVELING ON THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

School Programs Current Programs Emigrant Train

4th & 5th Grade

CSRM Digital Interpretive Program

DATES AND RESERVATIONS ON HOLD

The nation’s first transcontinental railroad made travel to California easier and safer than ever before. The railroad encouraged western settlement and travel for pleasure.

Students participate in five different interactive stations.

Station 1: Introduction

Station 2: Travelers tell why they are moving to California.

Station 3: A Pullman Porter explains how he made travel more comfortable for the passengers on his car.

Station 4: Students listen to the travel experiences of a first-class traveler (American author, Sarah Chauncey Woolsey) and a third-class traveler (Novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson).

Station 5: Tour the Central Pacific Passenger Station and ride the train!

This program was formerly called The Emigrant Train Program.

SELF-GUIDED SCHOOL TOURS

Every year, the California State Railroad Museum welcomes hundreds of classes to the Museum. To allow more school groups to visit the Museum, we are unable to offer guided tours. All school groups are self-guided. Docents located throughout the Museum provide interpretation and stories about our collection.

We hope you and your students will enjoy a fun, educational visit. To enhance your time in the Museum, please review the following guidelines.

We suggest one adult chaperone for every 10 students. Chaperones are responsible for the care, safety and actions of group members while visiting the Museum. Please remember, chaperones must remain with their groups for their entire visit to the Museum.
A brief, mandatory orientation by staff will help students and chaperones remember museum guidelines and enhance your students’ learning experience.
Plan a time and place for your group to meet after the visit.
Your time in the Museum is unlimited until we close at 5:00 p.m. Keep in mind that once you enter the Museum Store or exit through any of the doors in the lobby, there is no re-entry.
Upon request, we are happy to present our twenty-minute introductory film, Evidence of a Dream, to your group.