Visual & Performing Arts · Kindergarten

Active learning ideas

The Classroom Gallery Walk

Active learning through gallery walks lets young students experience the pride and responsibility of treating their own work as art to share. This kinesthetic, discussion-rich approach builds confidence as children practice speaking about their choices and responding to others’ ideas.

• Common Core State Standards
• NCAS: Presenting VA.Pr4.1.K
• NCAS: Presenting VA.Pr6.1.K

• 15–25 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Gallery Walk
• 25 min · Individual

Gallery Walk: Sticky Star and Wonder

Display all student artwork around the room. Each student gets two sticky notes: a star (something they notice or admire) and a wonder (a question they have about the piece). Students walk quietly, placing their notes on at least two different artworks.

Explain what you notice first when you look at this artwork.

Facilitation Tip

During Gallery Walk: Sticky Star and Wonder, pre-place sticky notes in two colors so students can immediately sort their observations into ‘I notice’ and ‘I wonder’ categories.

What to look for

Provide students with sticky notes and sentence stems like 'I notice...' and 'I like how you used...' Ask students to write one observation about a peer's artwork and one positive comment. They will then place their sticky note on the artwork.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Relationship Skills
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Peer Teaching
• 20 min · Pairs

Peer Teaching: The Artist Explains

Each student stands next to their artwork for 5 minutes while two or three peers come by and ask one question. The artist answers in one or two sentences. Rotate so every student gets to be both artist and visitor.

Justify why you chose certain colors or shapes in your own artwork.

Facilitation Tip

When modeling Peer Teaching: The Artist Explains, hold an artwork to your chest and speak first person as if the artwork is describing itself.

What to look for

After students have viewed several artworks, facilitate a whole-class discussion using prompts such as: 'What did you notice first about this artwork?' or 'Tell me about a color or shape you see here.' Encourage students to point to specific parts of the artwork as they speak.

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Create
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Think-Pair-Share
• 15 min · Pairs

Think-Pair-Share: First Look, Second Look

Pairs stand in front of one piece together. First look: 30 seconds of silent observation. Second look: share what they noticed. Pairs compare: did they notice the same things? Different things? Report out to the class.

Critique a peer's artwork by identifying one strength and one area for growth.

Facilitation Tip

After Think-Pair-Share: First Look, Second Look, provide sentence frames on the board such as ‘I saw ____ first because ____.’ to support language development.

What to look for

As students are finishing their artwork, ask them to point to one specific element they chose to include and explain why they chose it. For example, 'Why did you use a blue circle here?'

• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Stations Rotation
• 20 min · Small Groups

Curator Choice: Which Piece Would You Hang?

Small groups receive 4-5 artwork cards and must agree on which one to 'hang in the museum' and why. Groups present their choice and reasoning to the class, using one piece of evidence from the artwork itself.

Explain what you notice first when you look at this artwork.

What to look for

Provide students with sticky notes and sentence stems like 'I notice...' and 'I like how you used...' Ask students to write one observation about a peer's artwork and one positive comment. They will then place their sticky note on the artwork.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should position themselves as fellow learners rather than judges, using phrases like ‘What do you think the artist was excited to show?’ to reinforce inclusion. Avoid correcting compositions; instead, guide students to notice and describe. Research shows that when children curate their own work early, they develop both artistic voice and audience awareness more deeply than through passive display alone.

By the end of these activities, students will confidently present their work, respectfully notice peers’ choices, and explain one artistic decision they made. Success looks like students moving thoughtfully, using language like ‘I see…’ and ‘I wonder…’ and pointing to specific parts of artworks as they speak.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Gallery Walk: Sticky Star and Wonder, watch for students who begin by saying what is wrong with an artwork.

  Model using the sentence stem ‘I see…, I wonder…’ and provide two colors of sticky notes labeled ‘I notice’ and ‘I wonder’ to keep responses descriptive and curious.

• During Curator Choice: Which Piece Would You Hang?, watch for students who exclude artworks they consider less ‘finished’ or ‘good.’

  Provide sentence frames such as ‘I would hang this because…’ and remind students that galleries show many kinds of voices, so every artwork deserves a place.

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Methods used in this brief

• Gallery Walk
• Peer Teaching
• Think-Pair-Share
• Stations Rotation