3rd Grade Program

Step Into Art third-grade programs capture the imaginations of young students with learning focused on great works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or highlights of French and American painting from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Each program begins at school with an interactive slideshow workshop inviting students to “step into art” in many different ways: through looking and discussion, drama activities, music, dance, and storytelling, all in the spirit of building memorable connections to chosen paintings. Emphasizing diverse entry points for learning, our creative, multimodal approach enables all students to participate and thrive. A special visit to the museum – with sketching in the courtyard or galleries – figures at the heart of each program. Students see in person all the works they have learned about at school and make exciting new discoveries.

Following the museum experience, students step into the role of artist. They draw inspiration Rembrandt, Copley, or Wiley, to create colorful, personality-rich self-portraits using a variety of materials – from cut paper to cray-pas, ribbon, and feathers. Students go on to write poetry inspired by art from the Gardner and the MFA. Learning to craft similes in response to favorite paintings, they build powerful new skills of descriptive writing. Their poems bring art to life! A joyful celebration at school concludes each program: students proudly share their poetry and self-portraits with their families and the school community.

In addition to our longstanding programs featuring the Gardner and the MFA, we have also developed a special third-grade program devoted entirely to the portraiture of Kehinde Wiley, a program we offer in partnership with Lee Academy Pilot School in Dorchester. With the theme of “Kings, Queens, and Modern-Day Majesty,” this program includes a rich repertoire of learning experiences inviting students to “step into” the world of Wiley’s portraits and connect with them in joyful, meaningful ways: an interactive slideshow with posing, dramatic role-playing, and storytelling; a self-portrait project with decorative backgrounds and shimmery embellishments; sketching; and poetry-writing. The program also engages students in creating a vibrant Kehinde Wiley-inspired mural to serve as the backdrop for school pictures, a collective work of art that benefits the whole school community. An exhibition of the students’ Kehinde Wiley-inspired self-portraits lights up the Children’s Room at the Codman Square Branch of the Boston Public Library, just a few blocks from the school, and books of the students’ poetry are proudly displayed on the Children’s Room shelves.