Teachers, staff, and museum educators collaborated to create a day of learning that focused on three areas: Social Studies (change over time, Western expansion, and Native American history), Reading (comparing and contrasting), and Visual Art (analyzing the message through visual clues). It was an action packed day with so many takeaways! AND ... the teachers worked with the students to create timelines that were displayed in each classroom and will be added to throughout the year.
To learn more about the program: My School, My Museum, click HERE.
Check out the lesson plan to get a feel for class visit to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Megan Rozzana introduces events for the timeline.
Lainie Adams adds the events to the timeline.
Students decorate sticky notes for the timeline.
Below you will find images of the completed timeline. The third image shows the days of birth of the students and teachers.
Arts Integration Coordinator, Alyssa Wilson, facilitates a discussion of the Charles Bird King portraits encouraging students to explore difficult but important topics such as assimilation, the Indian Removal Act, and the Trail of Tears.
As part of the Charles Bird King stop, students formed groups and adopted a point of view that they discussed and then shared with the rest of their class. See handout below. Note: This activity was inspired by "Circle of Viewpoints," a routine by Harvard Graduate School of Education's Project Zero--find out more by clicking this link: http://www.pz.harvard.edu/resources/circle-of-viewpoints .
School Programs Manager, Sally Ball, and Museum Educator, Travis Deal, facilitated conversations about westward expansion and the changes over time that occurred to the landscape. See below for the Venn Diagram handout that helped students to compare and contrast the landscapes and notice the change over time.
After lunch, students returned to the classroom and worked on visual timelines. Students were asked to select events and draw images of the events that documented the change over time.