BISON, not to be confused with buffalo which are found throughout Asia and Africa, are found mostly in North America. Bison are a sacred animal to Native Americans who would hunt the bison, using every part of it for their basic food, clothing and shelter needs. After nearly being hunted to extinction by settlers, bison herds were preserved and are no longer considered an endangered species.

The children learnt about the habitat of the bisons and then painted their landscapes.  They drew their bison with oil pastel and sponge painted it to create the fur texture. 

I think you will agree that they did an amazing job!

We learnt about the Canadian fishing industry and the small towns that rely on fishing for their economy.  The children then used watercolours and oil pastels to create these stunning fishing boats.

The desert tortoise  is a  species of  tortoise in the  family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.  The desert tortoise is the official state reptile in California and Nevada. 

The desert tortoise lives about 50 to 80 years; it grows slowly and generally has a low reproductive rate. It spends most of its time in burrows, rock shelters, and pallets to regulate body temperature and reduce water loss. It is most active after seasonal rains and is inactive during most of the year. 

The children learnt about the American artist Ryan Conners and how she loves to draw cats wrapped up warmly and drinking hot drinks.  The children used collage to create their own COSY CATS.  Do you have a favourite? If so, why?  It’s hard to choose as they are all fabulous!

ABOUT ARCTIC ANIMALS
The ARCTIC is a region that covers the northernmost part of Earth. Northern CANADA is included in this usually cold, snow and ice-covered land. Arctic animals are special because they can live where
the summer is very short and the winter is long, dark and cold.

TED HARRISON (1925-2015) was a Canadian artist whose landscape paintings
were influenced by his surroundings in Canada.  The children created their own polar bear and landscape inspired by this amazing artist.

Thanksgiving is an American and Canadian holiday. It is celebrated to give thanks for the harvest and for the year ahead. 

Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated in many countries around the world.

The children did observational drawings of pumpkins and coloured them using chalk pastels.  As you can see, they did an amazing job!

On a Thursday our After School Club does various art activities, in a fun and relaxed environment.

We really enjoyed creating these brilliant bookmarks today.  There was lots of talk about our favourite animals and the children gave their bookmarks super cool names…. one was even called ‘Mrs Pearson’! I felt very honoured.

This week we did observational drawings of pumpkins, using Sharpies and chalk pastels.  The children really enjoyed chatting while creating and all were pleased with the results.

Today we made an awesome owl and we each gave our owl a name! I was really impressed with an older brother helping out his sister, who is in Reception.  Well done Thiago!

We collected leaves from the garden and created some awesome leaf animals.  It was wonderful to see the older children heling the younger ones with some tricky cutting and glueing.  Here are a selection of them:

We follow a two year Global art passport that encourage the children to explore ‘Cultural Appreciation’ so that they may understand and learn about another culture in an effort to broaden their perspective and connect with other cultures.

IRIS SCOTT is an American finger painter. She got her start when she was “too lazy to wash out herbrush” and decided to finish a painting with her fingers instead. The experiment paid off, as she was able to create vibrant paintings full of movement and life,all by using her fingertips and oil paints. She paints a wide variety of subjects from animals to landscapes and portraits.  These are two of her famous paintings. 

The children then created their own painting in the style of Iris Scott and I think that they are awesome!

ABOUT THE BIBLIOBURRO

The BIBLIOBURRO is a traveling library in COLOMBIA where the owner travels on the backs of two donkeys, Alfa and Beto. Fitting his donkeys with packsaddles that were originally made to carry water, Luis Soriano, a Spanish teacher in rural Colombia, started carrying a mobile library of books to remote areas where children didn’t have access to books. The book Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter tells the true story of the biblioburro. our Reception children worked every Friday on this project creating their own ‘BIBLIOBURROS’, which all contained their favourite books.  As you can see, each donkey is as unique as the child that reated them.  I think that they are all amazing and I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite!

The AMAZON RIVER in SOUTH AMERICA is the largest river in the world by water volume. It is the second longest river after the Nile River. People have built cities and villages along the banks of the river, so the main way to travel is by boat. Inspiration for this lesson was the book Along the Tapajós
by Fernando Vilela, which follows the story of a brother and sister who live in a community along the Tapajos River (a major tributary of the Amazon River) in Brazil where their home is on stilts and they travel by boat everywhere they go, even to school!

The children in Year 2 embraced this lesson and used a variety of techniques, including painting and collage to create these AMAZING AMAZON pictures.

MACAWS are a type of parrot that have long tails and colourful feathers. Their colours range from bright red and blue to yellow, blues and greens. They are found in many places, including the jungles of SOUTH AMERICA. Macaws eat mostly fruits, nuts and seeds.

Inspiration for this lesson came from Moon: A Peek Through Picture Book by Britta Teckentrup, which is a beautiful exploration of animals, including macaws, frolicking by the light of the moon!