(Also, this is my FIRST post using WORDPRESS!! I made the switch over the weekend!)
Friday I had the pleasure of taking the 3rd graders to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Our school is just on the other side of the Potomac River in Arlington, VA and most of the 107 3rd graders had visited this museum before. But in my opinion, you can never visit an Art Gallery too many times!! Also this was not my first fieldtrip with a school group to the National Gallery but it was the first where the docent let the kids use a laser to point to what they notice in a painting and the first where we could record on a device our favorite images. Both uses of technology added to our engagement and learning!
The title of our docent tour was Every Picture Tells a Story and it was a perfect culmination of all the reading and writing we have done this year as 3rd graders. In my group, Ms. Janet asked us to identify all the same things we do when we read or write a printed story – setting, character, plot, and theme but this time we did it while sitting in front of amazing works of art. I was very proud of our class. All participated in a lively and deep conversation about how the artist told a story and we looked very beautiful and handsome as we did it! (We had asked the kids to dress up for the trip!)
This week we are researching and also creating the “story” of the picture.
I picked this painting:
As a model for my students, I created these slides:
What fun fieldtrips have YOU taken??
What small moment can you write??!!
Writing Stories by Sally 
Oh, I miss field trips like this! It sounds like you had a docent that was perfect for your class. I love the way you are extending it with your students and helping them make all the connections. Maybe in these last days of school I should bring back some writing about pictures. I love the idea of a small moment story from a picture.
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Sally, I LOVE the new blog! It’s so bright and lovely! This sounds like an amazing field trip!! I may need to take my own field trip there this summer! 🙂
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Maybe we could go together!! Send me times when you might be up for a trip!
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What a great trip. I’ve never taken kids to an art museum, but I’ve used art prints to inspire writers. One of my favorite writing activities is to have kids imagine what is happening beyond the borders of the painting and write a poem.
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Wonderful way to spend a day… more… I don’t remember a field trip to an art museum as a kid but as a teacher I loved taking kids to the theater…and as an adult, I love watching kids on trips to art museums… that’s what they will always remember. Bravo to you, Sally!
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I love this painting by Manet and your stories about it. I remember a similar question. (It is such a lovely one for reading and writing). Your post reminds me of the need for art galleries to be populated by children and their teachers. Thank you for sharing with us.
PS Love the new space!
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Sally, I’m SO glad your trip turned out well after all!
In the painting you chose, as a child, I always fixed on the puppy in the mother’s lap…not sure why….I love the National Gallery and always think of my mother taking me there on Sunday afternoons after church. Happy times.
I love your new blog–it looks awesome!
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Such a worthy trip – your kids will be telling stories for a long time thanks to the art they saw!
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Sally,
I love that you are in the slide with the painting – I think that visual connection adds to the students’ interest and engagement! Love studying art in person or virtually – not so many Manet’s in our neighborhood!
Love the blog!!!
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