During this week session, we were very lucky to have the chance to visit Kevlingrove Art Gallery and Museums. I have visited this museum plenty of time as a child, however I had not been in a very long time and I was unaware what the gallery had to offer. On arrival we were lucky to have a guide, who gave us a brief workshop that would be available for children all over Scotland. We were informed that the gallery hold various workshops and trips for schools all over Scotland for free of charge which are very informative and often link into topic and IDL learning from the Vikings to Ancient Egypt.

After taking part in the mini session, we then headed up to the gallery and looked at some painting and had the amazing opportunity to look at the painting we have worked with previously Avril Paton’s Windows in the West.

It really was amazing to see the painting in real life. We spoke about the painting and how this could be an amazing tool for literacy and story writing. We discussed many activities we could give children just by putting a photo of a painting up on the board. One activity we discussed would be to give each child a tenement block, and asking them to create a story by focusing on one flat and what’s going on in the window. Before now I would have never of thought of using a visual art piece to inspire writing. Now I know this is an effective way to get children speaking about a painting, and then writing it down on paper.

During our visit we also got to look at the Ancient Egypt section of the museum. We spoke about how this can be a great insight to mathematics and numbers by taking a look at the numerals displayed in the museum. I learned that we really can use art as a stimulus for many areas in the curriculum.

On reflection, I felt very lucky to been of able to explore the gallery and museum, and gain new knowledge about the things that they do on a daily basis for children and even adults. It was a great experience and I would bring my class to experience this great place.