"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."
-Charles Dickens
March came in the night like a fierce lion. From the comfort of indoors, I would not imagine it to be forty (nor fifty) below. The sky is cobalt blue, the sun is bright and warm. Made me think of the indoor recesses last week and the plasticine worlds the students started. Here it was too cold to even entertain the idea of going outside, yet the sun was pouring in the windows melting our work into a soft goop.
The K-3 class has been coping extremely well with all of these weeks cooped up inside. The key to this is finding an outlet for our creativity and energy. Many of us have taken an interest in constructing these imaginative and elaborate scenes with a few friends at recess time. We have four worlds on the go right now, each with its own characters and storyline.
From our window you can see a beautiful bramble of branches covered in red berries (We're not sure what kind of tree this is, so if you happen to know, please tell us.) When I drive up to the school each morning I notice the berries and think about how wonderfully out of place they are. It was this tree and the blue sky of course, that were the inspiration for our latest art piece.
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| February, 28th, 2014 |
First, we painted the background with liquid watercolour, using the wet on wet technique. The colours blended beautifully together. We then sprinkled a little salt onto the paint for a shimmery effect. Once the background was dry, we used India ink to create the trunk and branches. The berries were added as a final touch using the flat end of a crayon and acrylic paint. We originally thought 100 berries would be appropriate to represent 100 days of school, but this soon seemed like an awful lot of berries. I wonder how many on the tree outside?
Whenever we have had an opportunity to get outside this winter, we have been working on a coloured ice wall surrounding one of the trees in front of the school. Below you will see Brett, from the 4-5 class, adding warm water to the ice-bricks he just laid. Nic is counting the bricks we have freezing for the next time we build. Looking forward to showing you how this project all unfolds...
Until Next Time,
Take good care of each other*,
Ms Hadfield
*Did I just steal Fred Penner's line?
