School Programs Report 2021–2022

ROSLYN AND ABNER GOLDSTINE

School Programs Report 2021-2022

This was another stormy year for

The most valuable lesson we learned this year

students and educators. Through

was how much more impact we have when

the many ups and downs of a third pandemic school year, the Skirball never wavered in our commitment to creating a safe harbor for students and educators. As we look back on that journey, we find we have stronger partnerships with teachers and deeper relationships with students.

We see now that all those storm clouds also had … a silver lining.

we build our curriculum in collaboration with the community we serve. We made direct communication with teachers and students a priority throughout the transition back to inperson instruction and field trips. This allowed us to calibrate our school programs to address students’ most pressing social-emotional needs.

The results speak for themselves. More students were part of our school program community this year than ever before.

We kept virtual classroom resources available even as we brought field trips back in-person, because that’s what teachers told us they wanted.

We focused on fun, flexible, immersive storytelling designed to strengthen student resilience, because that’s what students needed most this year.

And when we heard how social isolation and stress were impacting learning, we invested in our most intensive interventions: school-site residencies. These residencies have produced an extraordinary change in student learning and engagement, we hope to continue to grow this model to yet more schools next year.

Ongoing partnership with

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front-line teachers fostered vital connections to the classroom

90%

of students served attend Title I schools

More than

115,000 students and teachers reached

260

school field trips

Action-oriented residencies in

3x

30%

more teachers in professional development trainings

School Programs Report | 2021-2022

more schools

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Back to School!

Hundreds of thousands of youngsters

Inside, young visitors felt the joy of safeguard-

have gone aboard our Noah’s Ark ex-

ing others as they snuggled with handcrafted

hibition since it set sail in 2007, and

animals in a new nursery. New woolly storm

100,000 more have visited its virtual counterpart, Noah’s Ark at the Skirball: The Art of Imagination, since it launched

clouds rumbling with thunder and flashes of lightning provided another kind of sensory experience.

in January 2021.

Our Archaeology Dig welcomed back sixth-

The Art of Imagination was our first online

through their fingers in search of artifacts.

curriculum, so it was especially meaningful when The California Association of Museums honored us with the 2021 Superintendent’s Award for Excellence in Museum Education.

When the in-person exhibition reopened in March 2022, strict health protocols, including masks, did nothing to dampen the

graders, who delighted in warm sands slipping Visitors to the Dig and Noah’s Ark adhered to safety protocols without a single case of Covid transmission reported.

Our campus is once again the unparalleled destination for immersive education and wideeyed wonder. In the spirit of Noah: l’chaim.

excitement of our visitors. Having made it through the deluge of a pandemic, the schoolchildren claimed bragging rights as resilient mini-Noahs.

They relished spending extra time outdoors in a new garden with kaleidoscopic sunlight and in a breezy amphitheater echoing with live music and stories.

“I learned how things from the past carry through to the present— the old oil lamp is like the flashlight on my phone!”

—Eric, sixth-grader, Grant Elementary School, Hollywood

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“The Skirball gets how young brains fed on technology are wired. They use storytelling—look at the kids leaning in! You gotta love this place.”

School Programs Report | 2021-2022

—Dolly Sanders, teacher, Grant Elementary School, Hollywood

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“I saw a lot of growth in my students’ creativity.

Now many of them can independently create something— their confidence grew. ” —Sarah Zia, teacher, Lassen Elementary School, North Hills

“Learning about wildlife and native plants changed my life.”

—Alex, fifth-grader, Stonehurst STEAM Magnet School, Sun Valley

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To Dwell in Community The centerpiece of this year was our

Grade-schoolers at Stonehurst STEAM Magnet

residency program, which enabled

School in Sun Valley yearned to see something

students to repair the world—starting

blossom after a dreary pandemic season.

at their own school.

Over five weeks, the Skirball’s full-time educators, Danielle Groak and Carmen Velasquez, met with young learners, culminating in an ambitious project meant to develop community leadership. Each week they examined a different lesson, including community council

We followed their lead, helping them plant a garden of low-water succulents.

Second-graders at Suva Elementary in Bell Gardens put down virtual roots through words and drawings about lush greenery. It was a vital lesson in using imagination for self-advocacy.

and collective action, from the virtual Noah’s

In North Hills, Lassen Elementary students

Ark curriculum.

showed how individual actions can make a

We held the program at three Los Angeles County public elementary schools, with our educators taking into account cultural, language and learning differences as students discovered the joy and impact of leadership.

big impact by connecting small drawings to form a mural depicting youth-led change.

They went on to clean up the playground, and motivated younger schoolmates using sock puppets to help keep campus clean.

The projects featured visual arts, storytelling

Working together in real life—or, as the kids

and a theme of Build a Better World.

say, IRL—had a profound impact on their

“I felt really excited to learn.

I learned that I need to have a big heart and care for people that need it.”

—Julianna, second-grader, Suva Elementary School, Bell Gardens

to dwell in community, a foundational Jewish belief, helping young people become the change they wish to see.

School Programs Report | 2021-2022

well-being and education. We will continue

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What Do You Carry with You? This was the question that we asked

Our docents’ role in carrying these stories

students to ponder in a brand-new

forward to the next generation reflects the

virtual curriculum based on our core

Skirball’s belief in the power of intergenerational

exhibition Visions and Values: Jewish

exchange and the value of honoring memory.

Life from Antiquity to America, which explores the central Judaic tenet that every person has value and must be treated with kindness.

We invited teachers to free Visions and Values curriculum training and creative workshops, where we shared how to use storytelling and examples of common cultural experiences, like food and textiles, to stitch together family histories.

The virtual curriculum includes the family

“The workshops helped me integrate creativity into the curriculum—you even hand-delivered the materials.

Thank you for helping me be a better educator.”

—Martha Cervantes, teacher, Suva Elementary School, Bell Gardens

history of Reva Nebrat, a young Jewish girl who fled Russian pogroms and immigrated to the United States in 1920. Reva’s story lives on through her niece, Paulette Nebrat Greenberg, one of the Skirball’s very first docents, and was brought to life in the virtual curriculum by current docent Fran Kubrin.

Reva’s story reflects the challenges and bravery in refugee and immigrant journeys, and encourages listeners to harvest the courage and pride in their own family tree.

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“Every one of my kids included the Skirball in their culmination speech.

They call you their Skirball family—you’re mine too.”

—Shannon Garrison, teacher, Stonehurst STEAM Magnet School, Sun Valley

Your support carried our programs to more students than ever.

We heard from teachers that our lessons were lifesavers for many children overwhelmed by loneliness.

Thank you for bringing Jewish stories and cross-cultural connection to so many schoolchildren and teachers throughout this transitional year.

The Roslyn and Abner Goldstine School Programs at the Skirball Cultural Center are made possible by generous support from: The Herb Alpert Foundation Attias Family Foundation Howard Banchik The Capital Group Companies Joan and Jerry Doren Evelyn and Norman Feintech Family Foundation The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation John and Marcia Goldman Foundation Roslyn and Abner Goldstine Hellman Foundation Myna and Uri Herscher Family Foundation Mark Hughes Foundation Marcia Israel Foundation Marlene Louchheim Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Resnick Foundation Specialty Family Foundation Steinmetz Foundation Dwight Stuart Youth Fund Flora L. Thornton Foundation Philip and Alyce de Toledo Fund Winnick Family Foundation

Boyle Heights artist Stephanie Mercado illustrated heirlooms and artifacts carried over centuries and borders to bring Reva’s story and the Visions and Values virtual curriculum to life.

School Programs Report | 2021-2022

Melanie and Richard Lundquist

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Onward!

Another silver lining: the lessons

We will continue to support teachers with new

we learned this year will continue

curricula, professional training and live events.

to enhance our school programs.

We will continue to innovate with visual arts

now that hybrid education—a mix of live and virtual—is here to stay.

We will continue to offer more tours of Noah’s Ark, the Archaeology Dig and special exhibitions, which always sell out in days!

and storytelling to meet educational needs within local communities.

We will continue to establish new learning opportunities. Even this school report provided a chance for a young writer, Eva Ortega, editor-in-chief of the newspaper at Pasadena City College, to sharpen her skills

We will continue to engage schoolchildren of all

as a member of our editorial team. We wish

abilities in academic and social development.

Eva well as she continues her studies.

“I’m excited to see more students soaring like birds from Noah’s Ark, and discovering connections between the past and present at the Dig.” —Rachel Stark, Vice President of Education and Family Programs

Text by Joan Harrison and Eva Ortega; design by Vesna Petrović; illustration by Stephanie Mercado; and photography

by Lindsey Best, Mercie Ghimire, Timothy Norris, Halline Overby and Maria Romero.

School Programs Report | 2021-2022

We will continue to expand online lessons

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PAID

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LOS ANGELES, CA

(310) 440-4500 skirball.org

OUR MISSION The Skirball Cultural Center is a place of meeting guided by the Jewish tradition of welcoming the stranger and inspired by the American democratic ideals of freedom and equality. We welcome people of all communities and generations to participate in cultural experiences that celebrate discovery and hope, foster human connections, and call upon us to help build a more just society.

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