K/1s Make Animals for the Baobab Tree

The K/1s listened to The Tree of Life: The World of the African Baobab, by Barbara Bash and noticed all the amazingly beautifully drawn birds, animals and insects that inhabit this tree that can live for 1.000 years! The students then selected one or two creatures to draw, cut out and place in the large baobab that is on the classroom wall as the room transforms for the end of the year celebration of work focusing on the study of Africa.

Drawing bushbabies

A bat hanging upside down

The finished tree

A closer view of the tree with all its embellishments

K/1s Learn an African dance

Kathleen Oliver and some of her students (including three Parker alums) from Buxton School in Williamstown, Mass. demonstrated several West African dances to the K/1 students as part of their study of Africa. The students then joined in with Kathleen and learned some of the dance moves.

Kathleen demonstrating the dance motion

The class trying it out

Getting into it!

K/1s Draw, Paint and Stuff African Animals

Each K/1 student is studying a particular African animal. In art they draw their animal working from a photograph, and then paint it with watercolors. Once this is completed, they again draw their animal, but this time on very large

Painting a lion

A giraffe is carefully painted

brown craft paper. This animal image is painted, duplicated and then stuffed with newspaper and sewn together with yarn. They will find their places in the classroom celebration of African work at the end of the school year.

Painting the big cobra

Cutting out the meerkat

Adding spots

Painting the second side for the gorilla

Sewing an elephant

Sewing the leopard

Part of the classroom display with paintings and animals

The zebra up close

Animals outside the African hut

AHut with occupants

The hyena finished

The beginnings of the hyena

K/1 Make Maasai Necklaces

Coloring the rectangular bottom piece

Coloring the disk

Finished!

Group finished!

Gluing the bottom piece on with care

As the K/1s began their unit on Africa they learned about the Maasai people of East Africa and the flat collar, beaded necklaces that they craft. Noticing the geometric patterns that the Maasai design, the students drew and colored their own patterns, adding the rectangular bottom piece with beads hanging from it.