Available by reservation; in-person and virtual tour offerings available
ADMISSION: Free for Kâ12 Bay Area school groups through the 2024-2025 academic year. Tours are $100 per class of twenty-five students for schools outside of the Bay Area.
The CJM offers interactive in-person and virtual school tours that engage students with studies of art, architecture, culture, and history. All tours center Jewish stories as a springboard for exploring our diverse community and teach inclusion through the arts. School tours always feature hands-on art activities that introduce students to various art media and making processes.
Experience the magical world of Ezra Jack Keats through this award-winning* arts-integration program for first and second grade classrooms! This tour brings a CJM educator to your classroom over Zoom for an interactive look at the past CJM exhibition The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats, highlighting early literacy concepts, followed by a guided art making session inspired by Keats’s illustrations. The perfect complement to curricula about exploring one’s neighborhood and community, students will be introduced to Keats’s biography as the son of Jewish immigrants, his path to becoming an artist, and the central role that children of color hold in his books. This sixty-minute experience will engage students with an interactive tour, art making, and an optional break in the middle. Reserved SFUSD classes receive a free class set of art materials for the art making activity!
*Recipient of the 2022 Superintendent's Award for Excellence in Museum Education, awarded jointly by the California Association of Museums and the California Department of Education
Discover the rich stories of history and culture embedded in the architecture of The CJM’s landmark building. In this STEAM-inspired tour, students in grades K–2 experience an interactive exploration of shapes and symbolism, building materials, and San Francisco history. Culminating in a hands-on design challenge, this tour invites close looking, creative problem-solving, and imaginative play. The CJM is housed at the site of a former power station, originally built in 1881, that was rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and went on to power San Francisco back to life. Architect Daniel Libeskind built upon this foundation using Jewish symbolism and whimsical angles to create an intentional space for celebrating Jewish culture. This tour is aligned to the California History-Social Science Framework.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was many things: a Supreme Court Justice, a feminist icon, a second-generation Jewish-American, and a lifelong advocate for equality. Ginsburg famously adorned her judge’s robes with decorative collars that often-held symbolic significance; from her rainbow LGBTQ+ pride collar to her powerful black and gold dissenting collar, Ginsburg’s accessories help to tell her story as a fierce defender of democracy. In this interactive tour, students will enter Ginsburg’s life and work through her collars, as photographed by Elinor Carucci, and additional artifacts that tell her story. Together, we’ll discover how her identity as a Jewish person and a woman informed her career, the impact she made on U.S. history, and what lessons her legacy can teach us about being caring citizens and people. The tour will culminate with a hands-on art making experience.
Students in grades 3–5 are invited to The CJM to discover the evolution of San Francisco into the city we know today. The city’s history has been shaped by the immense growth spurred by the gold rush, the effects of earthquakes and fires, and the diverse communities who have called San Francisco home. The CJM’s remarkable building, housed within a former power station, and the historic sites of the surrounding South of Market neighborhood, give students the opportunity to peek into the past and explore sunken ships, burial sites, the birth of electricity, and the stories of Jewish immigrants who made their way to San Francisco. The field trip begins with an outdoor exploration of nearby landmarks on the block where The CJM is located, followed by hands-on activities inside The Museum, and culminates in a design challenge that gives students a chance to imagine their own city. This tour is aligned to the California History-Social Science Framework.
Bring Jewish history and culture to life for your students with an immersive learning experience at The Contemporary Jewish Museum (The CJM). Step inside our landmark building, a transformed power station, and explore the diverse stories of Jewish immigrants who ventured to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Discover how the whimsical angles, rubble bricks, and hidden Hebrew letters create intentional spaces symbolizing the vibrant life of San Francisco. Students will further their adventure with a hands-on building design challenge, reflecting on the stories of their own multifaceted identities.
Discover how art can be a powerful tool for exploring and sharing identity. Art can be used to present identity as an intersectional experience where an intricate web of factors and forces inform who we are, how others see us, and how we engage with the world. In this interactive tour, students will view work by Jewish artists and consider universal questions of heritage, diaspora, memory, exclusion and belonging as they relate to identity. Through guided conversation and art making activities, students will also be prompted to find and share connections to their own identities and experiences. Tours will include a variety of artworks from The CJM’s current and upcoming exhibitions.
A strong complement to Ethnic Studies curriculum, this tour addresses antisemitism, intersectionality, and immigration.
Holocaust, Art, and Resistance Day of Learning teaches Holocaust history, shares connections to contemporary Jewish culture, and centers the crucial role of the arts in fostering resilience and empathy. This three-hour program features a multimedia live concert of the music and stories of composers who perished in Nazi concentration camps, followed by a series of student activities including a CJM architecture tour, an exhibition-based tour, and a guided art making experience. Students are invited to consider how history ties into their own agency and resilience today, and to think about cross-cultural bridging and combating discrimination in their communities. Students from visiting schools who play instruments are also invited to learn the music of any number of songs before the experience and perform alongside the professional musicians.
Prepare your class for field trips at The CJM with this step-by-step guide.
CJM teacher resources connect students to current and past CJM exhibitions and provide insight into art, history, and culture for various ages and learning modalities. These resources always include connections to art and Jewish stories, are suitable for utilizing with or without a visit to The Museum, and follow California state curricular standards.
For the latest updates on new programs and resources for educators, sign up for our mailing list below. To request more information or ask questions, please email schools@thecjm.org.
Major support for K-12 School and Teacher Programs is generously provided by California Bank & Trust; William Randolph Hearst Foundation; Barbara and Ronald Kaufman; The Bernard Osher Foundation; Pacific Gas and Electric Company; and Yerba Buena Community Benefit Fund.