American art comes to the classroom

    Numerous artists have captured historic events in American history through their painting, sculptures, architecture and photographs. A collection of these powerful masterpieces, called Picturing America, has been reproduced and distributed to classrooms in private and public schools and libraries across the nation. It is intended to help students connect with and gain an appreciation for our nation’s past.

   The Caledonia-Mumford Elementary School received a Picturing America collection through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It contains 40 outstanding posters that tell the story of the United States of America from colonial times to the 20th century. Mary Burns, elementary school librarian used several of the posters in the collection in her lessons on military service, which she taught to K-5 students in preparation of their school-wide valentines for veterans project in January. Burns used the reproduction poster of General George Washington’s historic crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War in her lessons.

   "I used General George Washington as an example of a person with courage, love of country and a desire for service; what all of our military leaders aspire to be," Burns explained.

   In another lesson, she used a photographic depiction of a 1965 voting rights march in Montgomery, Alabama to teach students about the American ideal of freedom. 

   The goal of the Picturing American program is to reintroduce American art into the classroom and to give kids who never see art at home or in museums the chance to see it as an important part of their lives, as important as music or sports. The laminated artwork comes with a teacher resource guide complete with suggested lessons. The collection is available to other teachers or community groups wishing to borrow them by calling the Caledonia-Mumford Elementary School.