Launching a New Project

My newest arts integration project begins in earnest today at McLeod Elementary School. I am partnering with a class of 5th graders to make a schoolyard field guide. We’re calling the project “It’s Alive!” and we’re using a book called No Student Left Indoors by Jane Kirkland. You may have noticed my recent spate of nature/science /art workshops. I am learning more every day about how to integrate the four things I love: nature, writing, photography, and teaching.

After my most recent workshop, I wrote about mistaking the stuffed hawk for a live one, but I didn’t show you any of the work I created in the class. Here’s the piece I like the best. I used a rubber dog’s paw. I inked it with black ink and pressed it down four times. Then, when it looked like a flower, I filled in some color with a red marker. This was part of a lesson called Tracks.

a print from a dog paw stamp embellished with a colored marker