The annual 5th Grade Art Experience field trip was really fun. The students started their day at the Missoula Art Museum where they encountered the long translucent scroll drawings of Jodi Leitner hanging from the ceiling. It gave the effect of being inside the rigging of a sailing ship. Students also enjoyed the colorful work of Neal Ambrose Smith, a second generation contemporary Salish artist. His use of layered images, neon, and glow in the dark paint was wonderful to experience.
Jolena was the children's teaching artist and they did a layered animal print inspired by Smith's mixed media art.
After lunch the students had a brisk walk to Kiwanis Park where there were some fun play structures. After recess, we visited with a librarian at the fabulous new Missoula Public Library who tested the students knowledge of famous first lines of children's books. Our class got most of them right! We toured the stacks and then visited our generous hosts at SpectrUM where we had a lesson in gravity, and another one in astronomy where students made a tool for recognizing star patterns in constellations. The students explored interactive science features and especially enjoyed the watershed room.
Finally the Missoula Butterfly House brought over tarantulas as "bug ambassadors". Students learned about how food is liquified before it could be slurped up. Our ambassador, Rosie was hungry enough to trap a cricket while the students learned her 4-part digestion process.
What a wonderful way to spend a day feeling curious about the worlds of art, play, reading and science! A big thank you to Missoula Art Museum, Missoula Public Library, Missoula Butterfly House and especially SpectrUM for sponsoring our field trip.