As part of the Me and My Museum program the 4th grade class visited Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art this week. To celebrate Black History month, the theme of the visit was the Blues. Teachers and Museum educators worked together to integrate Language Arts, Social Studies, Music and Visual arts to develop an interdisciplinary arts integration lesson. In English class, students have been learning about poetry and rhyme scheme; in Social Studies the class learned about the Civil Rights movements through the story of Ruby Bridges.
Building on the lessons from these disciplines the Blues was introduced. A presentation about the Blues was provided and the students learned about the history of the genre, from its roots in the musical structure and instruments from West Africa to its contribution in the development of Rock and Roll. Elementary guitar teacher Mark Shields performed several 12 bar Blues songs and provided instruction on characteristics of the Blues, its musical structure and the importance of the personal story shared in the lyrics.
Students then visited the galleries with Museum Educators to experience two paintings. Each work was created by an African American artist that visually shared a personal story from their lives. Students observed the paintings through of a Blues song. Building on their knowledge of rhyme scheme and the story of Ruby Bridges students composed lyrics to a from the perspective of one the figures represented within the painting. Students were assigned to write three verses that shared the story of what they believed was taking place in the painting. Students will perform their Blues songs during their specials class in guitar with Mr. Shields next week.
If you would like to hear some of these Blues songs make plans to attendour bi-annual event AAA Night @ the Museum, Thursday March 5th from 6:00-8:00 pm at Crystal Bridges Museum.
To learn more about Ruby Bridges visit https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ruby-bridges
Don’t miss the Hank Willis Thomas exhibition at Crystal Bridges https://crystalbridges.org/exhibitions/hank-willis-thomas/
