Our sea exploration is off and “swimming.” The students are doing an amazing job exploring our focus question: “How do artists explore the sea?” 

Children first encountered the ocean through poetry and art as they analyzed Sara Teasdale’s “The Sea Wind,” along with Katsushika Hokusai’s iconic woodblock print, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, Mary Cassatt’s The Boating Party, and Winslow Homer’s The Gulf Stream. 

Finally, students experienced the sea as the setting for William Steig’s charming tale of an unlikely friendship, Amos & Boris. These works of art present very different images of the ocean and prepare our students to consider the ocean as complex and compelling.

We have been focusing on using the elements of art to create topic sentences around the central message of each piece (composition, line, figure, focal point, color). 

Students are also working on reading fluently and accurately and giving feedback based on praise, questions, and suggestions to their peers.