April Showers Bring May Flowers!

Students notice the signs of spring with blooming flowers, warmer weather and frequent sneezes! As the weather improves there are more opportunities for work and play outside. Throughout the next few weeks we will enjoy the beauty of spring in various ways!

Students enjoy a beautiful Friday afternoon by taking a trip outside. We picked two trees in our park and took time to observe and draw together. 

Before beginning their work students were asked to use their eyes to look closely at details of the tree. They then traced the tree with their fingers and looked for areas they believe would be challenging for them to draw. 

As they are drawing students learned that looking both at the paper and at the tree was a strategy they wanted to use in order to replicate the tree.

After careful observing students begin to draw the tree as they see it. They were challenged to include all the branches, twigs and flowers in their drawing rather than replicating the "typical" tree they have in their minds. 

Many students explain "This is hard! There are so many branches!"

This activity was a quiet working time. As students finished their work they were encouraged to share their drawings with a friend or teacher. They discussed what they felt was "strong" or what was "hard" about this activity. 

As they finished their drawings with a flair pen students were asked to color in using colors they saw on the tree. Many students used multiple colors to blend in the trunk, grass and flowers.

It was clear that we all see the tree differently. It was our hope that our drawings would look unique and be our individual creation. Students were proud of their drawings and eager to share their finished products with a friend.

There are so many wonderful things to observe in our world. Is there a time or place you could draw together and enjoy the spring changes throughout the next few weeks?