Museum As Megaphone

VIRTUAL Fifth Grade Art Experience (FGAE)

Museum as Megaphone is MAM's virtual learning program for fifth grade students across the state. In collaboration with the woman-owned education and technology company, Inspired Classroom, MAM brings art exhibitions, contemporary artists, and artmaking to classrooms across Montana—virtually. Students interact directly with artists to participate in real-time, inquiry-based tours in the MAM galleries and. MAM’s arts educators lead students on an inquiry-based tour to engage and promote self-discovery through dialogue and discussion. Each course is self-paced and is not timed. The steps can be completed as a class or assigned as independent work. We have created these programs to mirror the experience of coming into the museum galleries as closely as possible. This includes video tours, art-making instructions for projects, resource lists, and more! Museum as Megaphone was created in partnership with Inspired Classroom. 

All courses meet the Montana state standards in visual art, Social Studies, and English/Language Arts and most Montana Indian Education for All (IEFA) Essential Understandings standards. 

  • Live days are timeslots for students to participate in a livestream at MAM. This is a rare opportunity for students to talk to a professional artist and be able to ask questions.  

  •  To prepare for the Live Day, your students should prepare some questions for the artist. You could even assign this for homework! 

    •MAM designed a short, FREE virtual curriculum that replicates FGAE. It’s self-paced and includes videos of artists, artwork, and exhibitions, as well as reflective writing and art-making prompts.  

    These 45-minute virtual events are held on Zoom directly from the classroom. Students and teachers from schools all over the state participate in real-time, interactive tours and hand-on artmaking with an exhibiting artist—all live from MAM! If you need assistance, email our Curator of Education, Kay Grissom-Kiely: kay@missoulaartmuseum.org. 

  • The Missoula Art Museum’s VIRTUAL Fifth Grade Art Experience (FGAE), Museum as Megaphone, includes a LIVE DAY segment with exhibiting Artist, STELLA NALL, and a virtual curriculum for teachers featuring artists and exhibitions that are currently on display at MAM. This is entirely FREE for you and your students. This is an excellent opportunity to connect your fifth-grade classes with a professional artist for conversation and artmaking while meeting MT and National core standards in Visual Arts, Social Studies, English Language Arts, and Indian Education for All. LIVE DAY segments with STELLA NALL are held during the week of December 8-12, 2025. These are 45-minute virtual events held on ZOOM directly from your 5th grade classroom. Students and teachers from schools all over the state can participate in real-time, interactive tours and hand-on artmaking with an exhibiting artist—all live from MAM and Stella Nall’s studio.

    • Plan to be in a room with a computer with a camera and microphone. If you have more than one class jumping on, everyone can zoom in from their classroom. Kids can zoom in from home too!

    • Have your classes arrive with questions for and about the artist in advance (5 per class).

    • Have the students ready to speak their question into the mic and be sure to say their name.

    • The students will be lead through a drawing activity which will take about 15 minutes, and we will invite the students to bring their art up to the camera to share. Please have pencils, 2 pieces of white paper, 1 piece of contrast paper (examples: colored construction paper, newspaper, magazine paper), scissors, and glue sticks or glue ready for each student.

    • We will ask students to write a reflection - just a sentence about what they will remember and ask that you email us those.

    • We will also be emailing out a short poll to record your feedback. This has been invaluable in improving our offering and making it work for everyone. It also helps us get funding so that we can offer this program to you and your students for FREE. Thank you in advance for doing this. 

  • If you need assistance, email our Curator of Education, Kay Grissom-Kiely: kay@missoulaartmuseum.org.

Live Days