Teacher Resources

Example Programs by Grade Level

Pre-K

Animal Tracking (Approximately 45 minutes):
Children follow a trail of animal tracks through the Museum learning about animals and art as they go. Select either the general animal tracking tour to learn about four different animals or the specific animal tour to focus on one animal (bear, wolf, bison, or mountain lion). The activity ends with time in the Children’s Gallery and optional art-making in the Museum classroom.

This program supports the Wyoming Department of Education’s Early Childhood Readiness Standards for Language: Listening and Understanding; Social Emotional Development: self-concept, self-control, pro-social behavior; Approaches to Learning: engagement and persistence; Mathematics: geometry and spatial sense, patterns, and measurements; Physical Health and Development: fine motor skills; and Creative Arts.

Kindergarten

Young Illustrators (Approximately 60 minutes):
This program helps students gain an understanding of the similarities between visual artists and authors. Students participate in basic drawing lessons. These lessons are intended to provide students with the necessary tools for completing an illustration to accompany a story. Students complete a treasure hunt in the galleries looking for “narrative” paintings, create an illustration for a painting title, and write a short story response to a painting or sculpture.

First Grade

The Art of Weather Watching (Approximately 60 minutes):
This program helps students gain an understanding of the natural world through observations and experiences. Students participate in activities designed to increase their awareness of weather and use their senses to describe weather. Students find examples of different types of weather in the paintings and relate the weather conditions to personal experiences.

Exploring Color (Approximately 60 minutes):
In this program, students explore their personal feelings about color. Students hear a story about color and discuss color choices. Students observe how artists use color. They participate in a game designed to challenge their perception and memory of color observed in paintings.

Poems Paintings Present (Approximately 60 minutes):
Students look at paintings as an inspiration for poetry. After hearing a few poems told through paintings in the Museum, they are inspired to write and illustrate their own poems in the Museum.

Second Grade

Observing Animals (Approximately 60 minutes):
Students use mammal specimens and games to develop wildlife observation skills, followed by a discussion about the importance of field observation for scientists and artists. They also look at the tools artists use to record field observations.

Wildlife in Winter (Approximately 60 minutes):
Students look at paintings and learn how animals use migration, adaptation, and hibernation to survive in the winter.

Third Grade

Plains Tribes and the Bison (Approximately 60 minutes):
Students learn why bison are so important to the Plains Indian tribes. The program covers hunting techniques, uses of bison, and the decline of the bison. This lesson ends with an art project in the Museum classroom.

Fourth Grade

Early Explorers in the West (Approximately 60 minutes):
Students learn about some of the early explorers by viewing a slide show of paintings by John Clymer. These images beautifully show the life of the fur trader as well as scenes from the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Students view John Clymer’s studio in the Museum and look at paintings by explorer-artists such as Karl Bodmer, George Catlin, and Alfred Jacob Miller.

Fifth Grade

Landforms of Wyoming (Approximately 60 minutes):
Through examining the paintings of Carl Rungius, students explore landforms found throughout Wyoming including mountains, buttes, canyons, cliffs, valleys, and lakes.

Children’s Book Illustration Residency (Approximately 60 minutes):
Each Spring we invite our Bull Bransom Award winner, for best children’s book featuring animal illustrations, to spend a week in Jackson Hole. The illustrator travels to local elementary schools to explain their process and instruct students. Contact us for more information.

Middle School

Wildlife Sculpture:
Designed for art students with a particular interest in sculpture, the tour includes indoor and outdoor sculpture at the Museum. Discussion covers location, attachment to base, pose and attention to detail, and a variety of sculptural media and processes. Students get the chance to explore their personal preferences for sculpture through the “Token Response” game played in the galleries. Students sculpt or sketch on their own using works from the collection as inspiration.

High School

National Geographic Photo Camp, October 4-8, 2023:
Photo Camp participants will explore the geographic and cultural landscape in and around
Jackson, WY. The group will work together to tell unique stories and share individual ideas about geographic and cultural connectedness using the power of storytelling. If you want more information about this free program for Wyoming students 16-22-year-olds, please contact Julia Spencer at jspencer@wildlifeart.org.

Studio Art Hour in the Museum:
This Museum high school studio class is designed for art classes who want to sketch from the masters. The Museum provides drawing boards, pencils, colored pencils, and watercolor paints. Students may sketch from paintings or sculptures in the galleries and then return to our classroom to add color with paint. These sessions may be scheduled over several weeks if desired.

Styles of Wildlife Art (Approximately 1.5 hours):
Students are introduced to the styles of art found at the Museum through a slide show featuring our collection, including primitivism, romanticism, realism, impressionism, abstraction, and expressionism/fauvism. Students consider their personal preferences for subject matter and style through the “Token Response” game played in the galleries. Each student has the opportunity to talk about their favorite works of art and the reasons why they like or dislike certain pieces.

Writing Workshop (Approximately 60 minutes):
In this museum high school workshop, students tour selected exhibitions in the Museum obtaining information about the artists and the artwork on display. Quotes from some of the artists are used to help students gain insight into the creative process. Students spend the last 30 minutes of this workshop writing in response to a piece of art in the Museum. Basic art materials such as pencils and colored pencils can be provided for illustration of the written pieces.

Studio Project