I’m sorry if this is a bit late, but I was on vacation.

 

The Rosenbach Museum & Library has had good luck with “school partnership projects” with local schools, working primarily with middle elementary grades (3-5). They’ve typically been semester or year long projects involving a particular classroom or classrooms—teacher support is essential. They have all been done during the school day, typically meeting weekly or biweekly. Each of the projects has had a theme, such as mapping, poetry, or Ben Franklin. Some have been tied to exhibitions, while others are simply collections-based. The projects typically involve some work with our collections, combined with creative work on the part of the kids towards achieving a final project. For example, the mapping projects involved looking at a variety of different types of maps in our collections, then the kids worked together to create a map of their neighborhood, drawing pictures of things they thought were important, researching local historic sites, and then fitting it together on map, which we then had printed. One of the poetry projects involved collections material from Lewis Carroll to Langston Hughes, with the students writing their own nonsense poetry, making puppets, and staging a nonsense poetry puppet show.

 

Hope this is helpful. We recently switched educators so we didn’t do any partnerships this year, but the former educator who worked with school partnerships was Bill Adair—he’s now working for the Heritage Philadelphia Program, which is part of the Pew Trusts, and I’m sure you could contact him there for more info.

 

Katherine Haas

Curatorial Assistant

Rosenbach Museum & Library

2008-2010 Delancey Place

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Tel: 215-732-1600 X129

Fax: 215-545-7529

Email: [log in to unmask]

 

 

 

Hello All--

(Please forgive cross--postings).  For an interpretive planning project, I'm interested in learning about partnerships and collaborations that museums of all types might have with schools that are in the neighborhood.  Next door, down the street--close enough that students could walk.   I'd like to know how partnerships are developed and sustained,  do teacher and/or parent advisory committees work,  have museums found in-school or after-school programming to be most engaging for parents and children,  whether exhibits or programs are most effective in attracting audiences, and in general, any advice you might have.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Linda Norris

--
Read my blog:
uncatalogedmuseum.blogspot.com

Linda Norris
Riverhill
PO Box 232
Treadwell, NY  13846
607-829-3501
[log in to unmask]
www.riverhillpartners.com

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