School Tours
The Skirball Cultural Center’s school outreach programs offer museum and performing arts experiences for Pre-K–Grade 12 that celebrate community and diversity and explore shared values. Public schools as well as private secular and religious schools of all denominations are welcome to participate in these highly interactive, California State Standards–aligned programs. Our programs focus on building understanding across cultures and inspiring students to engage in improving the world around them.
For information about registering for School Programs or obtaining bus and admission scholarships, please visit Frequently Asked Questions.
If you have already taken a tour or attended a performing arts program and would like to provide us with feedback about your experience, please click here.
Registration begins on Monday, July 9 at 12:00 p.m.
School Tours for 2012-13
Creating the United States
Gary Baseman: The Door Is Always Open
Noah's Ark at the Skirball
Journeys of the Jewish People
At Home in L.A.
Architecture at the Skirball
Americans and Their Family Stories
Archaeology of the Near East
Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Stories: Immigration Journeys to America
American Identity: Immigration in the Age of Diversity
Introduction to Jewish Culture and Religion
The Nuremberg Laws: A Turning Point in Jewish History
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Suggested number of students: 15–60
Duration of visit: 2 hours (10:00 a.m. start time only)
CA state standards covered: Language Arts, Social Studies
In this celebrated exhibition organized by the Library of Congress, students will explore the origins of the three documents that were essential to forming the American republic: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Through encounters with original documents, colonial-era objects, and interactive media, students will learn about the process of debate, disagreement, and compromise that led to the creation of American democracy. They will also explore the relevance of this process, the documents themselves, and the legacy of these issues to their own lives as Americans today. The school tour will also include interactive experiences in related galleries exploring historical and contemporary issues related to freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of assembly.
TEACHER PREVIEWS: October 13, 2012 and January 12, 2013, 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. Come for a FREE preview of the exhibition and consult with Skirball educators to individualize your school tour. For related programming, click here.
Image: Tanner, Vallance, Kearny & Co. The British Surrendering Their Arms to Gen. Washington After Their Defeat at York Town in Virginia October 1781. Philadelphia: Tanner, Vallance, Kearny & Co., January 28, 1819. Engraving [Prints and Photographs Division], Library of Congress
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Suggested number of students: 10–40
Duration of visit: 1 1/2 hours (10:00 a.m. start time only)
CA state standards covered: Language Arts, Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts
Students will experience the first major museum retrospective of the work of internationally recognized artist Gary Baseman. A creative force whose exuberant and highly accessible creations range from fine art to toy and game design, animation, and fashion, Baseman—the child of Holocaust survivors—has generated a body of work informed by his personal biography and the culture that he grew up with in 1960s and 1970s Los Angeles.
NOTE: Tours of this exhibition will only be available to school groups as a self-guided experience. Teachers will receive preparatory materials and guidelines for organizing their visit.
Image: “Dumb Luck” vinyl figurine, © Gary Baseman [2003]
Suggested number of students: 15–40
Duration of visit: 1 1/2 hours (10:00–11:30 a.m., unless otherwise noted)
CA state standards covered: Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts
Inside the Skirball’s award-winning, innovatively designed children’s and family destination, students and teachers take part in a variety of hands-on, communal activities, including making music with handcrafted instruments, interacting with life-size animals made of found materials, “conducting” a storm using low-tech devices, climbing the rafters, and collaborating to care for the ark’s inhabitants.
Be a Build a Better World School!
Interested in integrating service learning into your curriculum? Be a part of the Skirball’s Build a Better World initiative. During select Noah’s Ark tours, students will complete a service project related to helping animals, people, or the environment and will receive support from Skirball staff to complete a classroom-based project back at school. Apply by checking the Build a Better World box on the online registration form when you register for your Noah’s Ark tour. Selected schools will receive admissions scholarships for their tours of Noah’s Ark.
Note: The Build a Better World school initiative is open to Grades 1 and 2 only.
To download Noah’s Ark at the Skirball Pre-Visit materials Pre-K–Kindergarten click here.
To download Noah’s Ark at the Skirball Pre-Visit materials Grades 1–2 click here.
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Suggested number of students: 15–40
Duration of visit: 2 hours (10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.)
CA state standards covered: Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts
This newly redesigned tour offers an immersive storytelling experience as students discover the
triumphs and challenges experienced by Jewish communities throughout the world. Students
will gain a greater understanding of Jewish culture and ideals and the value of learning from the
past. The tour experience culminates in a communal take-home art project inspired by objects
in the Skirball’s permanent exhibition, Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America.
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Suggested number of students: 15–40
Duration of visit: 2 hours (10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.)
CA state standards covered: Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts
On this highly interactive tour, explore the diverse communities of Los Angeles and celebrate the
ties that unite the city. Students will be introduced to three universal values that figure
prominently within the Jewish tradition: welcoming others, caring for the world around us, and
teaching and learning. While exploring the Skirball’s permanent exhibition, Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America, students will discover how these same values are shared by
many cultural communities across our city. The tour culminates in a take-home art project
related to community service.
To download At Home in L.A. Pre-Visit materials, please click here.
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Suggested number of students: 15–40
Duration of visit: 2 hours (10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.)
CA standards covered: Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts
Students learn about the art and science of architecture by exploring the dynamic indoor and outdoor spaces of the Skirball campus and become architects themselves during an indoor collaborative building project. They consider the form and function of different structures, discuss architect Moshe Safdie’s creative process, give special consideration to the qualities of communal buildings and complexes, and apply what they learn through sketching, discussion, and design.
NOTE: Due to the outdoor nature of the program, Architecture at the Skirball will only be
available in September and early October 2012 and after March 1, 2013.
To download Architecture at the Skirball Pre-Visit materials, click here.
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Suggested number of students: 15–60
Duration of visit: 2 hours (10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.)
CA state standards covered: Social Studies
What was it like to be an immigrant to America at the turn of the twentieth century? Find out by discovering the stories of immigrant families from different countries, eras, and cultures through their heirlooms and personal narratives. Students travel on an imaginary journey by boat across the Atlantic, undergo the intake process at Ellis Island, attend school in a 1908 classroom, and find jobs in a bustling New York City neighborhood. Using their imaginations, students reflect on the challenges and opportunities we face collectively as a nation of immigrants.
To download Americans and Their Family Stories Pre-Visit materials, click here.
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Suggested number of students: 15–60
Duration of visit: 2 hours (10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.)
CA state standards covered: Social Studies, Science
Students observe antiquities from the Near East and reflect on the shared needs of all peoples, past and present. Through cooperative learning, critical thinking, and hands-on activities, students examine history, geography, economics, religion, and other important cultural concepts from the Iron Age. At the Skirball’s simulated dig site, students use authentic tools of the trade to interpret life in an ancient town.
NOTE: In case of rain, an indoor alternative is substituted for the dig-site activity.
To download Archaeology of the Near East Pre-Visit materials, click here.
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Suggested number of students: 15–40
Duration of visit: 2 hours (10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.)
CA state standards covered: Social Studies, Visual and Performing Arts
What do contact lenses and a Hanukkah lamp have in common? Or a makeup compact and a Turkish tea set? Students on this tour discover how daily objects and ritual artifacts can shed light on the ways immigrant groups become part of the diverse fabric of American culture. Students engage in small-group investigations, dynamic discussions, and a take-home art project to explore their own identities in relation to family and cultural traditions.
To download Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Stories Pre-Visit materials,click here.
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Suggested number of students: 15–40
Duration of visit: 2 hours
CA state standards covered: Social Studies
Please note that all school tour dates for the 2011-2012 school year have been booked, we are no longer accepting school tour requests. Information regarding 2012-2013 school tour registration will be available soon. Please check back in May, 2012 to learn more about our offerings for the 2012-2013 school year.
New for teens! What is the connection between an immigration experience and the formation of personal identity? In a gallery-based setting, students will be challenged to articulate how their own family histories and journeys contribute to the diversity of contemporary American life. When faced with provocative questions surrounding culture, immigrant journeys, and individual choices, students will connect with Jewish stories from the collection as springboards for reflecting on their own identities and belief systems.
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Suggested number of students: 15–40
Duration of visit: 1 hour (12:00 p.m. start time only)
CA state standards covered: Social Studies
Please note that all school tour dates for the 2011-2012 school year have been booked, we are no longer accepting school tour requests. Information regarding 2012-2013 school tour registration will be available soon. Please check back in May, 2012 to learn more about our offerings for the 2012-2013 school year.
On this school tour of the Skirball’s permanent exhibition Vision and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America, students discover the opportunities and challenges encountered by Jewish people in the modern world and gain insight into how cultural groups adapt to a community while retaining their core beliefs and practices.
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Suggested number of students: 15–40
Duration of visit: 1 hour (12:00 p.m. start time only)
CA state standards covered: Social Studies
Please note that all school tour dates for the 2011-2012 school year have been booked, we are no longer accepting school tour requests. Information regarding 2012-2013 school tour registration will be available soon. Please check back in May, 2012 to learn more about our offerings for the 2012-2013 school year.
In this program, students learn about German Jewish society before World War II; view facsimiles of the Nuremberg Laws, which became the blueprint for National Socialism and the Third Reich; hear about the atrocities of the Holocaust; and discuss the importance of civic engagement and public activism as ways to prevent such tragedies in the future.
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