Collaboration and Creation: Todd Parr Inspired Art Work

During our visiting authors celebration in March, Todd Parr worked with High School Art students to create giant canvas paintings inspired by Todd's books. The High School students created black-line drawings with the themes found in many of Todd's books -- love, friendship, unity and peace. Each drawing would become a panel on a large canvas. Together, the series of panels sends a message of positivity.

Last week, many of our Student Librarian team volunteered their time to add color and life to these large canvases. The High School students joined us in the library to work alongside our Elementary students. Together, the students transformed the black-line drawings into vibrant, inspiring works of art -- in the spirit of the pages of a Todd Parr book. What a special and memorable time for our students. We are reminded that magical things can happen when we work together and learn from each other.

Celebrating Poetry Month: Student Voices Loud and Clear

Poetry was alive in the ES Library during the month of April! Students participated in a variety of poetry reading and writing activities during their library classes. Activities included reading and responding to poems, posting favorite poems on SeeSaw, writing a poem for a friend and closely observing nature to inspire poetry.

The K1 stars used their senses to observe a special visitor in the library - Spots the Tortoise! As a class, the students wrote a poem to describe Spots and illustrated their work. They enjoyed sharing their observations, poems and art with Grade 4W buddies!

We culminated our celebration with our Poetry-A-Thon. The goal was to read poetry all day long in the library. Mission accomplished! Students and teachers presented a selection of original poetry as well as some favorites by other poets. We enjoyed hearing some poems for two voices from Grade 5 and some group presentations by Grade 2. Many students shared their inspiration from Naomi Shihab Nye by reading their original work. Thank you to all the students and teachers who joined together to make this community event a success. We love to hear your voices!