Winter Cardinals

A winter wonderland is usually seen as a world of white snow, blanketing the ground and clinging to tree branches. The stark white landscape in Maine is often accented with bright dots of color from beautiful birds darting about. Cardinals stand out against the bright white.
Third and fourth graders discussed birds and what makes some birds more visible than others. The most common response was the bird's bright color that stands out from the colors around it. Cardinals are a perfect example of this. The lesson's learning target was "I can choose the right brush for the job." Students have been fine tuning their painting skills and need to recognize when to use a big brush or a small brush in their work. Our motto is "big space=big brush" and "little space=little brush." Students were asked to paint a cardinal in a tree and outline it. The students were asked to remember our painting motto and make good choices in which brush to use.
As you can see the students did a wonderful job not only in their brush choice, but in their compositions as well.

This lesson was inspired by the blog Deep Space Sparkle
http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/