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3-5: In the Spirit of... a Museum Visit

This is an integrated unit that focuses on masks in cultures as reflections of individual spirits. This lesson focuses on students’ observations of masks while visiting a museum.

A lesson plan for Grade 5 English Language Arts, Visual Arts Education and Social Studies

Learning outcomes

While at the museum, the student will observe the way color is used in different works of art, how artists use color to express their emotions, and the way various cultures use and interpret color. The student will write a letter of thanks to the museum docents and include a description of their favorite work of art from the visit.

Time required for lesson: 1 Day

Materials/resources

Student, teacher, & parent nametags

Parent volunteers

Worksheets for bus trip (Attached-Colors & What Is Your Cultural Identity?)

Technology resources

Digital camera

Pre-activities

• Students should have some background knowledge with looking at use of color and symbols to represent a culture or society from the “In the Spirit Of…(pre-visit)” lesson.
• Teacher and students should discuss proper museum and bus behavior.
• Students need to discuss the role of a docent in a museum and of the museum in the community.
• Students should know the proper letter-writing format.
• The teacher needs to discuss his/her objectives with the docent before visiting the museum, so the docent can plan activities for the students.

Activities

Bus

1. Before arriving at the museum, give students nametags to be worn at the museum. Divide them into groups of 7-10 for touring the museum with a docent. A parent and teacher will be assigned to each group, as well.

2. Students will be given worksheets related to masks and culture to be completed while on the bus. Use “Colors” and “What is Your Cultural Identity?” worksheets attached at bottom of lesson.

Museum

1. Students will spend a minimum of 30 minutes in each gallery with docent-led activities.

2. Teacher will take pictures of students working in the galleries.

3. Individual and group writing samples will be provided to teachers for reference in post-visit lesson.

Classroom

1. Students will reflect upon and discuss the museum visit in small/large groups using the pictures from the digital camera along with the PowerPoint presentation. (Further assessment will occur in the post-visit activity when the students use colors to symbolize their cultural heritage.)

2. Each student writes a letter to the museum docents to thank them for the day at the museum. Each student will need to write about their favorite work of art. What did he/she like about it? How did it make him/her feel? Please see rubric at the bottom of this lesson plan.

Assessment

Teachers will observe students while at the museum and further assess the success of the visit during the post-visit activity. Thank you letters will be given a grade using the rubric below.

Supplemental information

If the teacher is unable to attend a museum, I have attached a PowerPoint presentation on masks from different museums and websites. Also, the section on relevant web sites will take the user to some locations on the internet where he/she will be able to find various kinds of masks.

Attachments:

• Spirit Mask PowerPoint
• Checklist
• What Is Your Cultural Identity?
• Colors Worksheet
• Thank You Letter Criteria
• Thank You Letter Rubric

Related websites

Ackland Museum in Chapel Hill, NC

http://www.unc.edu/depts/ackland

North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC http://ncartmuseum.org/index.html

Milwaukee Public Museum http://www.mpm.edu/collect

Ideas for lessons on interpreting color

http://library.thinkquest.org/50065/lessons.html

Comments

Please see “In the Spirit of…(pre-visit)” for a supplemental social studies lesson. Also look at “In the Spirit of…(post-visit)” for a supplemental mask-making lesson plan. These lessons can be viewed in the Lesson Plan Database.

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