The only way to closely observe something, and to know it deeply, is to draw it.
Grade 4 students are putting famous paintings under the microscope. Each student chose an artwork by a famous painter, such as Claude Monet or Lawren Harris. For about twenty minutes a day, bit by bit, over the course of about three weeks, we have been copying the picture, first with a pencil sketch and then with layers and layers of pencil crayon.
For another twenty minutes a day, we have been writing about the picture. One day we wrote about what we could see. On another day we wrote “I hear” sentences. And so on. What is happening in the picture? What has already happened? What will happen? After all of our rough writing, we are now tidying up and rearranging our sentences, adding rich verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and finally making our most vivid descriptive paragraph:
“Orange hills are climbing over the prairies …”
“The extraordinary butterflies are fluttering towards nothing but thin air …”
“A mighty, vast, massive whirlwind hit the mountains, making them crooked and stained …”
“One hundred years ago, a snow-white glacier melted and formed a pond …”
Our Grade 4 team loves to spike a volleyball, bowl a strike, serenade you with the accordion, and dominate a game of Settlers of Catan.
Grade 4 students are putting famous paintings under the microscope. Each student chose an artwork by a famous painter, such as Claude Monet or Lawren Harris. For about twenty minutes a day, bit by bit, over the course of about three weeks, we have been copying the picture, first with a pencil sketch and then with layers and layers of pencil crayon.
For another twenty minutes a day, we have been writing about the picture. One day we wrote about what we could see. On another day we wrote “I hear” sentences. And so on. What is happening in the picture? What has already happened? What will happen? After all of our rough writing, we are now tidying up and rearranging our sentences, adding rich verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and finally making our most vivid descriptive paragraph:
“Orange hills are climbing over the prairies …”
“The extraordinary butterflies are fluttering towards nothing but thin air …”
“A mighty, vast, massive whirlwind hit the mountains, making them crooked and stained …”
“One hundred years ago, a snow-white glacier melted and formed a pond …”
Our Grade 4 team loves to spike a volleyball, bowl a strike, serenade you with the accordion, and dominate a game of Settlers of Catan.
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