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1. A “Tour of the Arlington Reservoir” For The Fifth Grade Students |
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The Arlington Reservoir Committee, a group of concerned citizens working to solve Reservoir environmental issues, prepared a “Tour of the Reservoir” for the students and other concerned citizens. Students received a map indicating thirteen locations with specific environmental concerns. The students already know some of the Reservoir issues from vivid experience. For example, children have encountered slimy water chestnut plants while swimming and can readily understand why the infestation of these plants is problematic. Students have walked around goose droppings on the beach. They have also been blocked in their paths by the numerous geese on the beach. The “Tour of the Reservoir” builds on students’ experiences by explaining the environmental implications of these issues, by exploring additional problems, and by suggesting ways to address them. |
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1. Field Trip to The Arlington Reservoir |
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Fifth Graders visited the Arlington Reservoir with copies of the “Tour of the Reservoir”, and with binoculars, and sketchbooks. Members of the Arlington Reservoir Committee, and naturalists, Marcia Hegarty of Habitat, Inc., and Marjorie Rines, an editor of the Bird Observer of Eastern Massachusetts, guided the students on the trip. The students learned how to use binoculars, and how to do field sketches. The field sketches included drawings of birds, plants, and trees indicating details in writing of the colors and conditions of the subjects drawn. Students sketched the behaviors of the birds in words and images. They also included the time, date, and temperature when the field sketches were made. The trip experience reinforced the understanding that each life form is related to the ecosystem as a whole and to other life forms within the system. |
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3. Students Created Watercolor Paintings Of Birds In Reservoir Environment |
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The fifth graders sketched and painted birds in environments making certain they created accurate renditions of the birds and the environmental elements surrounding them. The process of drawing the birds honed observational skills so that the shapes of heads, beaks, wings, and feet were accurately rendered. This process required seeing the relationship between the bird and the environment. How does the bird use feet to perch on branches? How does the bird use its beak to procure food? The process of painting focused on color, transparencies, opacities and textures. Is there a pattern in the colors of the wings, in the neck, in the head? What are the colors of the sky as opposed to the colors of the water? What qualities provide a differentiation between the colors and textures of the sky and water? How can color and brush stroke be combined to replicate textures of the feathers, of grass, of bark, or water? Utilizing these observational skills became habits of mind as the students practiced to make their paintings as accurate as possible. |
| 4. Tufts University Omidyar Scholars Program and Mystic Watershed Collaborative | |
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A partnership with the Omidyar Scholars Program and the Mystic Watershed Collaborative was established. The outcome of this partnership was that Lauren Carelli, participant in the Omidyar Scholars Program, helped students develop artistic skills to accurately represent birds in their environments and to understand the relationship between the birds students were painting and the Reservoir environment. Under the leadership of Lisa Brukillachio, Lauren visited the Reservoir learning how to use binoculars and practice field sketching techniques. Lauren’s considerable experience and skill in painting helped her to develop examples of the projects students were doing and to assist the students in developing techniques necessary to portray birds and environmental elements. Lauren focused on teaching students watercolor techniques such as applying watercolor washes to produce transparent sky and sea areas and to mix colors so that bird colors were accurately represented. |
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5. David Allen Sibley Presentation |
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David Allen Sibley, author and illustrator of the Sibley Guide to Birds, gave a presentation of his work and critiqued student paintings. Sibley described growing up as the son of the well-known ornithologist, Fred Sibley, and learning to identify birds in the same way that children today identify Pokeman characters. He emphasized how observation requires focusing and recording even minor details. Sibley described how he began identifying and drawing birds when he was five and has continued ever since. He related how he dropped out of school to travel the country observing and drawing birds in different ecosystems. Sibley highlighted the time it took to master the processes of observation and recording. It took him ten years of traveling and painting to gain the knowledge needed to develop a bird guide. It took another six years to actually produce the guide. The children learned how important it is to focus and take the time needed to learn about environmental elements and relationships in depth. |
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6. Jennifer Flores, Artist, Guides Students in Creating Symbolic Images |
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Jennifer Flores is a local artist committed to using art as a way of knowing the natural environment and as a vehicle to raise awareness of environmental issues. Flores showed students how she uses folk art to frame portrayals of environmental relationships in symbolic and reverent ways. Flores was also Education Director of the Arlington Center for the Arts and has collaborated on other environment-related projects with Wendy Campbell. Flores offers a different perspective on how art engenders a respect for the environment. Her own artwork draws on the art of the Huichol people of Mexico and the symbolism they employ. After the fifth graders created realistic paintings of birds found at the Reservoir, Jen helped students create symbolic renditions of birds emphasizing the relation between birds and the natural elements they encounter: sunlight, wind, water, flowers, fish, and others. The students’ dreamlike paintings reflect a profound understanding of these important relationships. |
| 7. Students Create Symbolic Paintings of Birds and Environmental Elements on Masonite Boards | |
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| Students painted symbolic images of the relationship between birds and the environment emphasizing that, for example, the fish are in the bird's environment but also inside the fish. | |
