Pre- and Post-Visit Activities: Grades 5 - 8

Sculpture: Shapes to Walk Around
Gallery Exploration

Pre-Visit Activities

• Introduce students to the Allentown Art Museum by describing where it is, where it is located and what it contains. Ask students: What is a museum? Has anyone ever been to the Allentown Art Museum or another museum before? What did you see at the museum? Explain to them why they are going and how the trip connects to what they are studying at school.
  
  
• Introduce the concept of three-dimensional art by asking students to name and describe famous monuments that are familiar to them — the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, etc. Then use images from the Allentown Art Museum's online collection and props in your classroom to reinforce the differences between two-dimensional and three-dimensional art.
  
  
• Explore the reasons why sculptures are made — for religious purposes, for public memorials, as art, etc. Then ask students to survey their neighborhood to find public sculptures and monuments. Have them sketch the sculptures and make notes on where they are, what they look like, when they were made, and their titles. Students can keep an ongoing journal of sculptures and monuments they see in their town or city. Did they notice these sculptures before they were asked to look at them? Why or why not? What is the purpose of each sculpture?
  
  
• Review Museum Etiquette with students to ensure they understand the unique qualities of museums as compared to other places that are familiar to them — the library, their house, the grocery store, etc.

Post-Visit Activities

• Review the trip with students. Ask them: What did they see? What did they do while they were at the Allentown Art Museum? What was their favorite artwork or activity?
  
  
• Have students turn the public sculpture journal they started before their visit to the Museum into a walking tour. They will need to map the area, mark the location of sculptures and create a short write-up describing the work. If possible, invite one of the artists who created one of the sculptures into the classroom to meet with students.
  
  
• As a group, have students design a sculpture for the school. What would it represent? What would it look like? Where would it be located? For ideas, have students visit the Museum's online collection. This activity can be enhanced by having an artist-in-residence work with the students to realize the project.

More Pre- and Post-Visit Activities

Kindergarten - Grade 4
ART DETECTIVES
THE FOUR SEASONS
MY FIRST VISIT TO THE MUSEUM
SENSATIONAL SENSES
SCULPTURE: SHAPES TO WALK AROUND

Grades 5 - 8
SIGNS & SYMBOLS: DECODING ART
NEW WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD
BY DESIGN: ART & LIFE
PERSPECTIVE IN DEPTH
SCULPTURE: SHAPES TO WALK AROUND
THE RENAISSANCE CONNECTION

Grades 9 - 12
SIGNS & SYMBOLS: DECODING ART
NEW WAYS OF SEEING THE WORLD
BY DESIGN: ART & LIFE
SKETCHING THE LANDSCAPE