376 Bridgehampton/Sag Harbor Turnpike, P.O. Box 316, Bridgehampton, NY 11932

631-537-8250

Liz Bard Talks About School Visits to the Museum

While the Museum is closed to the general public on Tuesdays, you can usually find the Museum’s Director of Education, Liz Bard, hard at work facilitating field trips for schools from across Long Island. During these visits, students have a unique opportunity to enrich the material learned inside the classrooms through the use of curriculum designed around the exhibits. We recently spoke to Ms. Bard—or Miss Liz, as she’s affectionately known to many—about why she considers this one of the highlights of working here.

Liz Bard:

“We typically see Pre-K, kindergarten, or 1st grade during school trips. My favorite field trip option is probably the Jackson Pollock because it’s unlike anything that’s usually done in school. It’s a “very free” art experience. For younger children, we relate his artwork to emotion, so kids can grasp how he was feeling when he created it. It’s learning outside the lines. It’s important for them to believe that artists can come from anywhere, not everyone’s art looks the same, and not everyone’s art is beautiful to everyone. And the class leaves with a beautiful collaborative piece of artwork. It’s a great shared, social experience. The Southampton Pre-K actually uses the Jackson Pollock artwork as the backdrop for their graduation!

Our Seed Planting program ties in nicely with Common Core standards. It encourages children to become investigators. We have sprouts available and we encourage them to really look at them…we even provide magnifying glasses! We talk about traits of the plant, the lifecycle of a seed, and then we plant our own seeds that the students take back to the classroom with them.

For older groups, I love mini golf. It’s perfect for 1st grade all the way up to 5th. For some schools, we divide the students into two groups. While one group visits our friends across the street at SoFo, the other one explores CMEE…and then everyone comes together to play mini golf!

For classes who can’t make the trip to Bridgehampton, we also do school visits. We’re always delighted to bring any of these experiences to your school.”

If you’re an educator who’d like to schedule a trip to the Museum, please e-mail Liz Bard or call the Museum at 631.537.8250.

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