Midnight Party: Observing Midnight is a tour designed for grades K-6 which connects directly with the scientific inquiry and investigation standard as outlined by the Minnesota Academic Standards in Science. The tour relates to benchmarks that strengthen observation and comparison skills.

This Set provides students with a taste of what they'll experience once in the galleries with a tour guide and can be used in the classroom following a tour as a way to reinforce the looking habits with which they engaged while on the tour. Included are three works of art with questions that encourage visual observation and providing evidence for what is observed. The question structure comes from a technique called Visual Thinking Strategies, which encourages critical thinking.

As the students answer the question set for each work, record their observations, so that the group can revisit the observations in aggregate and draw comparisons, discuss differences, etc.

Notes:

For younger students it may be helpful to introduce the activity as detective work. When they come to the Walker they'll be asked to be art detectives.

Idea:

If you're using this Set as a post-tour activity consider looking at additional pieces in ACE that the students discussed on their tour. Select works to which they were particularly drawn, or had some unresolved ideas about and then continue the conversation.