Henry students, docents at Woodmere

Woodmere Docents (photo KP)

Dr. Merri Rubin's third grade Gifted Support class hasn't been around school much, lately. Instead, they have been docents-in-training at Woodmere Art Museum, in Chestnut Hill. Working with Woodmere's education staff, each student selected a piece of art currently on display. Then, over the past month, each student learned about his or her piece, learning about the artist, medium, and the story behind the piece. For homework, the students created note cards, wrote poems or stories, and prepared a list of questions to ask an audience about the piece.

On November first, the GS students presented their works to the rest of the third grade, along with parents and teachers, and a handful of grandparents and museum visitors. The project, which included three visits to the museum, was a great complement to the field trips they have taken to the Philadelphia Museum of Art over the past three years, and to the in-school projects, where art teacher Evelyn Bock teaches about individual artists.