Shields and Another Kind of Mural

Seventh and 8th graders have the privilege of making shields for the Medieval Faire this weekend, and since the 8th graders had finished their TGS mural work, they designed a Faire Mural for the big chalkboard. 

Mural Progress

You may have noticed how much progress we are making on the mural - it is really coming along!  This week, the Lower School students will have a chance to contribute, working on the grass, ferns, sunset glow, and wishstrips.  Here are some 3rd graders adding a lovely patch of ferns:

5th Grade Naturalist Drawings

Fifth graders are reading My Side of the Mountain by naturalist Jean Craighead George, so we have been working on sensitive line and contour line through observational drawings.  We looked at examples of historical and contemporary naturalist drawings in class and students first made contour line drawings from life in the garden of plants of their choosing with careful fidelity the forms observed.   Next, they closely examined helicopter seed pods, some from several views, and made sensitive line drawings which they then painted in watercolor.

Beautiful Oops-ing in Kindergarten

One of my favorite books to read to kindergarteners is Barney Saltzberg's Beautiful Oops.  Besides being a great interactive and multi-surface board book that is really fun to read and explore, t's a great reminder that projects may not go as planned, but often "mistakes" are the catalyst for something even more exciting.  Developmentally, kindergarteners are just starting to compare their work to how they think it "should" look, so it's a good time to introduce the idea that an "Oops" can be a new creative starting point.

I gave students construction paper with holes cut out, and offered them several materials to work with, including tissue paper, pattern-paper scraps, glue, tape, scissors, string and pipe cleaners.  They made some incredible creations that will soon be gracing the hallways.