Representatives from all three local school districts received learning trunks with lesson plans and learning materials on the Declaration of Independence for fifth, eighth and eleventh grade Social Studies classes from Bell County’s America 250 Committee on Friday. Pictured from left are Middlesboro teachers Tommy Joe Mike and Ben Slusher, Pineville teacher Deidra Thompson, Bell County Historical Society and Museum Director Jes’Anne Givens and Bell County teacher Paxton Middleton. (Photo by Jay Compton)

Using funds from a grant through the Kentucky Historical Society, the Bell County America 250 Committee has purchased items and assembled learning trunks for the Middlesboro, Bell County and Pineville school system.

The trunks contain learning materials and lesson plans covering the Declaration of Independence and how it ties to local, state and national events. They are designed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, which will be celebrated in 2026.

The lesson plans contained in the trunks are designed for fifth, eighth and 11th grade Social Studies classes; students in those grades are tested at the state level in Social Studies.

“These trunks are intended to be utilized year after year by the school systems to promote Social Studies education to present and future generations of Kentucky students,” said Jes’Anne GIvens, the director of the Bell County Historical Society Museum and head of Bell County’s America 250 Committee.

The trunks and materials were purchased through a nearly $5,000 grant from the Kentucky Historical Society. Among the items included in each trunk are Mini-Qs in Civics: Teacher Resource Binders, teacher’s guides and classroom sets of “We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution Level 1-40th Edition,” binders of lesson plans for each grade level, infographic posters featuring the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the movie National Treasure and many other books on the Declaration and its signers.

The project is supported with funding from the Kentucky Historical Society. For more information see history.ky.gov.