School Tours & Field Trips

The pre-kindergarten tour provides young children with an introduction to an art museum. Students learn through manipulation of natural materials and touch objects while learning about the artwork. Students also participate in an age-appropriate clay project which they bring home after the tour, inspired by the Museum’s collection of Native American Pottery.

The kindergarten tour provides students with interactive, hands-on experiences in the galleries, including singing and drumming. During the tour, students observe and learn about different cultures and explore aspects of nature, texture, color and pattern.

The Native American Kindergarten tour supports grade level curricula and the New York State Common Core Native American Listening & Learning Strand.  Students learn about the ancient way of life of some of the Eastern Woodland Indians such as the Lenape, Wampanoag and Iroquois; also the Lakota Sioux of the Great Plains region.  Students will explore how different geographical regions influenced the different lifestyles of Native people. Contemporary Native American art is included to highlight Native cultures living today. The tour includes experiential learning utilizing touch objects, music, drumming and singing.

The first grade tour explores artists’ representation of family. Students engage in observation of paintings and sculptures that depict various elements of family life including celebrations, apprenticeships, storytelling and animal families. Concepts of family traditions are also examined in this tour. Students engage in questioning strategies that include interactive observation and discussion.

The second grade tour examines elements of community through paintings and sculptures in the collection. Students also learn how the museum building itself has served the local community first as a city hall and fire station and then as a museum. Students examine concepts of tradition, celebration and apprenticeships within Native American communities and learn how new communities were created by people moving out West. Students engage in questioning strategies that include interactive observation and discussion.

For this tour, students learn about westward movement in the development of our country, and how art teaches us about the past and present. We discuss how paintings, sculptures and historical objects can record people’s daily lives, history, ideas and stories.

The third grade tour explores Native American art and American art. Students learn how culture is expressed and portrayed through art. Students learn how art teaches us about cultures past and present: how paintings, sculptures and historical objects can record people’s daily lives, history, ideas and stories. Students engage in questioning strategies that include interactive observation and discussion in small groups.

The fourth grade tour connects classroom study of Haudenosaunee life and culture to the Museum’s extensive collection through experiential, hands-on activities and discussion. Students will be encouraged to investigate and discuss the artifacts, objects, and artwork in the new Haudenosaunee Gallery. The program includes an artmaking activity in which students make a traditional cornhusk doll, which they will bring home after the tour. Students will also enjoy engaging in hands-on conversations about animal hides, musical instruments, and a variety of other objects from the Museum’s education collection.

For this tour, students learn about westward movement in the development of our country, and how art teaches us about the past and present. We discuss how paintings, sculptures and historical objects can record people’s daily lives, history, ideas and stories.

The fifth grade tour examines how artists play a vital role in shaping peoples’ perceptions of the American West both in the past and present. Students explore concepts of abstract and representational art and the materials artist use. Students engage in questioning strategies that include interactive observation and discussion in small groups. The tour culminates in a written “Compare/Contrast” worksheet activity.

Offered only in the fall, in conjunction with our Day of the Dead exhibits and community celebration, this tour explores the customs and traditions of El Dia de Los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, which is based on ancient traditions traced to the Aztec civilization in Mexico. Today, El Dia de Los Muertos celebrations combine Native American and European customs and are practiced among Hispanic, Mestizo and Indigenous peoples from the American Southwest and Mexico. It is a festive and joyful time to welcome home the spirits of deceased loved ones as well as honor their memories. Students create art pieces in memory of a loved one or historical figure during the program, which will be displayed on an ofrenda in the Museum’s Education Gallery and returned after our community program.

This tour explores artists’ unique styles, techniques and inspirations. Focusing on artistic elements, we tour the galleries, looking at and discussing various pieces from our collection. The tour can be geared toward middle school, high school, or college students.

By listening to selections of the Museum’s new audio tour and engaging in group discussion, students will learn about artists’ diverse histories and how artistic practice and activism have long been intertwined in ways that are not always obvious. On this tour, students will get a glimpse into what being an activist means through different periods of American history, including present day issues and topics including LGBTQ+ activism, feminism, race and prejudice, animal rights and more. Students will consider how to best use their own personal strengths and interests to put their voices to work for causes they care about. Explore the work of a wide range of artists including Virgil Ortiz, Juane Quick-to-See Smith, Frank Stella and more. Optional 45-minute facilitated art project.

The Spirit of the West tour examines the works of artists who documented and interpreted the West’s uncharted landscapes and its indigenous inhabitants during much of the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. Students learn how artists and photographers influenced early conservation policy, public attitudes about western lands, native populations and the concepts of “Manifest Destiny.” Students will also compare and contrast the viewpoints of contemporary Native American artists, whose work seeks to challenge years of stereotyping and to present a contemporary Native American voice. Students engage in questioning strategies that include interactive observation and discussion.