Bring Coral Gables Museum to your virtual or face to face classroom via video chat technology! Interact LIVE with a Museum educator as you are guided through a virtual learning experience that highlights parts of our collection and exhibitions. We are making education more collaborative, inclusive, and learner-centered through conversations, object analysis, and art activities. We are also thrilled to expand upon our school programs this Fall to include art experiences. Virtual visits are often used as curriculum enhancement or enrichment for K–12 school groups. Certain programs have associated activity materials that will be provided digitally for those able to print and distribute. If you have no access to a printer, all activities can be completed with a blank sheet of paper. Virtual Programs are tied to the U.S. national education standard in Common Core and engage key 21st-century skills such as cross-disciplinary thinking and media literacy, as well as Global Competencies. Our Virtual Programs are also easily adjusted to fit learning needs of any group!
Contact us to find creative ways to meet the learning needs of your students.
What do I need for an interactive virtual learning experience with the museum?
- A stable internet connection
- A laptop or smart device that is fully charged or plugged in
- a Zoom link, which will be sent to the main email provided
Email lili@coralgablesmuseum.org with any questions, concerns, or technical difficulties.
Description: Students discover the history of Coral Gables, city founder George Merrick’s translation of Mediterranean architecture, and contemporary local issues in downtown development and urban design. Students evaluate the current state of the City of Coral Gables in terms of Green Living and Green Design and the current development initiatives.
Activities:
- “Creating the Dream: George Merrick and His Vision for Coral Gables” (Interactive presentation -30 min.)
- Art Activity: Drawing a Venetian pole (materials not provided).
Description: Students will identify and discuss elements of a city; public spaces, dwellings, commercial buildings, schools, parks, sidewalks, landscaping, streetscapes, transportation systems (trolleys, bike paths). A city is shaped by both small and large-scale elements. How can these elements contribute to sustainability? City design and planning is a collaborative process that includes input from architects, urban designers, government officials, landscape architects, environmentalists and engineers. How is Coral Gables sustainable? How does it compare to my neighborhood in terms of being green? How can these neighborhoods improve?
Activities:
- Museum building and surrounding architectural styles tour (Interactive presentation -30 min.)
- Art activity (30 min.):
- Green Streetscape Design, grades 3-5
- Design a Green City Map. Individual urban planning activity. Consider sustainable components, grades 6-12
Description: This exhibition encompasses highlights from the personal collection of Ilene Hochberg Wood. The handbags range in style from folk art, to contemporary designer, to embroidered, and numbers into the thousands, making it the largest collection in the U.S., if not the world. The display at the Coral Gables Museum will explore themes including Most Royal, Most Talkative, The Legends and The New Kids. The artist bag section will spotlight bags that are hand-decorated or inspired by famous artworks.
Activities:
- “Purseonality” (Interactive tour of exhibition -30 min.)
- Art Activity: Design and make your own purse or bag (materials not provided – 45 min.).
Description: Headlines! Unfolding 117 Years of History with the Miami Herald serves not only as an unfolding of the Miami Herald’s past, but also of city’s past, for the identity of both the newspaper and Miami are inseparably intertwined. Throughout the exhibition the visitor is presented with over 75 front covers of the Miami Herald spanning from 1903 to 2020, whose headlines prove that journalism really is the first draft of history. Headlines, as we know them today, did not come into use until the late 19th century when increased competition between newspapers led to the use of bold-faced, attention-grabbing streamers across the front page. Traditionally, a paper’s headline is reflective of what a society has deemed important and “newsworthy.” There is much to be learned about a community through the exploration of what it chooses to write about as well as what it chooses not to write about.
Activities:
- “Headlines” (Interactive tour of exhibition -30 min.)
- Art Activity: Design your front cover of a newspaper and an important headline for the piece of news you will write. (materials not provided – 45 min.)