Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.
On Friday we took our youngest gifted students on a field trip. The day started at A&E Gallery. Paul Schexnayder, the owner, is an artist and teacher in our talent program. He opened up this old historical building to the wandering eyes of 1st-3rd grade kids. I asked them to find a piece of art that makes them amazed. I had made a form for them to use for a cinquain poem. After they wrote, they created a final draft to give to Mr. Paul. He will place the poems next to the art piece for visitors to see.
Gwen Voorhies, artist.
Madison wrote about the peaceful painting above.
Lynzee wrote about a 3-D piece of an alligator on the high trapeze.
We ventured onward to the Hilliard Museum in Lafayette. This museum is a fine art museum, different from the co-op gallery in New Iberia. The children drew a postcard of a painting and wrote as if they had visited the place. The docent then brought them to an art room where they could color their pictures with oil pastels and colored pencils. My students enjoyed exploring these art materials.
Exploring drawing with oil pastels.
An art display of dresses made from cut up romance novels.
Our final stop (after lunch in the park) was the Lafayette Science Museum where the kids were allowed to roam freely to see dinosaur bones, insects, magnets, and a favorite of all, video games.
Field trips are a great way to expose our students to new things like art. As I was chatting with the docents, they shared with me that not many teachers take advantage of their program. This is disappointing to me. We need to take our students out of the school and into the world of ideas and creativity. This field trip was inexpensive, too. We only charged the students $5. They brought their own lunches and our gifted program procured the school bus.
I celebrate the beautiful day (temps in the 70’s), art, enthusiastic docents, and students writing, learning, and playing. An added bonus: Our students are all from different schools, so they made new friends, too.
Reflections on the Teche 
Love that ‘alligator circus’, Margaret. Our school gets kids out too, but it’s my understanding that most school systems allow only one trip per year, & some don’t look fondly on even leaving the building. Art is so motivating to the kids. Good for you for getting out there, and love that those poems will be posted by the paintings!
I so enjoyed hearing about this experience! And the poems are fantastic!
I miss field trips! We used to take them all the time, but now we don’t because of budget cuts. Maybe I could look into our district’s gifted funds, though. Going to art and science museums sounds so fun!
I love the poetry you and the art inspired in these young ones. What a great opportunity for them. Their writing art sits beside the visual art. Gifts for all to see.
[…] « Celebrating an Art Field Trip […]
As a librarian, I no longer go on field trips, but they certainly are wonderful experiences. I remember as a child visiting the Los Angeles Museum of Art with my class. It was an amazing look into the world.