Session II: Green Group Gets Busy!

On day 1 of Session II, on my travels from room to room, I was psyched to see that Pauline, the energetic and extremely engaging pied-piper of a music teacher from Session I, is teaching her own group this session! Her Green Group was bopping along the path on the first day with sticks, leaves, pinecones, rocks, all sorts of found-nature objects, so I knew they were up to something awesome. 

This morning, Pauline's room was my first stop, and "awesome" was a pretty accurate assumption on my part. They have been working on all sorts of historically inspired projects that the kids are really excited about. First, they showed me what they had been doing with all those twigs and leaves a couple days ago. They made bird sanctuaries out of recycled wood, corks, and an assortment of natural materials they collected in the woods behind the Arts Center. The plan is to hang them outside and put bird-food (seed and peanut butter, the kids told me) in hopes that the bird sanctuaries serve a purpose.

Members of the Green Group show off their bird sanctuaries.

They've also been hard at work on some artwork inspired by ancient Asian art. They made their very own ancient Chinese Scrolls, inspired by an authentic one hanging in their classroom. The kids used ink to paint scenes in black and white, before mounting them on brown paper and adding red and green accents to their pieces.

Kayla poses with her Ancient Chinese scroll.

The final project I got to see from the Green Group today, although they have much more in the works, was inspired by a Japanese tradition of a children's festival during which, historically, to mark the beginning of summer, the young boys of the village make kites shaped like large fish and parade them around to celebrate the rainy season. This project could not be more fitting for Summer Spree right now, what with all the rain and high temperatures we've been seeing. The green group have hung their kites up in their room, made from construction paper and paint, with streamers attached to the bottom. How great are these? Keep up the great work, Green Group!

Members of the Green Group showing off their Japanese festival kites.