Teaching Artists in Paradise
Visual Arts
Developing Observation Skills through Drawing
Mie Wallace/Marcia Pasqua
1st Grade/Makakilo Elementary School
First grade teacher Mie Wallace collaborated with teaching artist Marcia Pasqua to integrate science with visual arts in the 1th grade classroom. Together they guided students in learning observation skills through drawing in a Science Unit about animals.
Fifth grade teacher, Juan Espinal and teaching artist Ellen Crocker collaborated on a visual and language arts adventure. Juan led students to write a personal narrative to be illustrated and Ellen showed the way for students to illustrate their personal graphic narrative. The fifth graders learned how to create beginnings and endings, to use details to tell/show emotions in writing and drawing. Students learned the processes of writing, sketching, revising words and drawings to create an 8 panel personal narrative using pens and colored pencils.
Interpretation is an Adventure
Ellen Crocker
Juan Espinal
5th grade
Konawaena El
Perspective
Lisa Louise Adams/Tracie Kuniyuki
2nd grade, Mountainview Elementary School
Teacher Tracie and Teaching Artist Lisa Louise integrated Language and Visual Arts in the classroom to teach perspective and point of view. Students created books, drawings, paintings, haiku, symbols and pattern to print, clay self-portraits and characters from a story. Through the process of making, an understanding of differences was visible and students saw how they each have a unique perspective.
Jenna and Lisa Louise collaborated on a scientific arts residency focused on observational drawings of plant and animal cells. Students discovered cells’ similarities and differences through asking questions, observation, drawing, sculpting models, teamwork, and reflecting on their learning.
How Questions help us Observe
Lisa Louise Adams/Jenna Nakao
4th grade/Waikoloa Elementary
What Change can We See Over Time?
Lisa Louise Adams/Kathy Johnson
1st grade/Waikoloa Elementary
Kathy and Lisa Louise collaborated on a scientific arts residency studying the life cycle of the butterfly. Through observation, drawing, painting, color mixing, and pattern creation students tracked the cycles of life through time.
From Trash to Treasured: Recognizing Our Roles as Global Citizens through Visual Arts and Science
Beth Marcil/Judy Locke
3rd grade/Pu’u Kukui Elementary
Judy Locke and Beth Marcil collaborated on a visual arts integrated science unit . Judy guided students in understanding the relationship between the carbon cycle, global warming, and climate change while Beth facilitated the creation of an “Earth Journal” made from repurposed materials and reflecting the environmental lessons students learned during this unit. In these journals, students not only created art, but also pledged their commitment to make one or two personal changes to help the environment. In addition, they made weekly journal entries to document their progress in making these changes. Finally, students discussed renewable energy sources, creating 3-D models to demonstrate their understanding while encouraging them to consider solutions to important environmental concerns.
Teacher Olivia Ren and Beth Marcil collaborated on a visual arts integrated science unit. Third graders did an in depth study of the coral reef habitat, the adaptive behaviors of the animals that live there, and the impact of human activity on the reef ecosystem. A field trip to the Maui Ocean Center allowed students to closely observe life within a healthy coral reef, noting specific survival behaviors and physical adaptations, while recording their observations with drawing and writing. Over the course of the residency, the class also worked together to create a coral reef mural using oil pastels and collage. Further collaboration, through the use of tableau and songwriting, deepened their understanding of why it’s important to take care of our valuable reef ecosystem.
Schools Rule: Adaptations and Behaviors in the Coral Reef
Beth Marcil/Olivia Ren
3rd grade/Pomaika’I Elementary
What's Eating You?
Creating Artist Books about Food Chains in the Hawaiian Coral Reef
Marcia Pasqua/Rebecca Hirakami
4th grade Kalili Kai Elementary School
Fourth Grade teacher Rebecca Hirakamai collaborated with teaching artist Marcia Pasqua to integrate science with visual arts in the 4th grade classroom. Together they guided students in creating and illustrating individual hand-made books to construct and demonstrate understanding of the Hawaiian Coral Reef food chains and webs.
How Animals Survive in Their Environment:
Hawaiian Coral Reef Mural
Marica Pasqua/Mie Wallace
1st grade Makakilo Elementary School
Teacher Mie Wallace collaborated with teaching artist Marcia Pasqua to integrate science with visual arts in the 1th grade classroom. Together they guided students in learning about the interdependence of living and non-living things in a Hawaiian coral reef by creating a realistic mural for the classroom.
Space Connects
Ellen Crocker/Juan Espinal
5th grade at Konawaena Elementary
Teacher Juan Espinal and teaching
artist Ellen Crocker collaborated
on a visual arts integrated solar
system unit. Ellen brought ODIW,
thumbnail sketches, oil pastels,
colored pencils and more to this
unit. Juan provided scientific data,
images and recent developments in
space for his students to record in
their science journals along with sketches. Students produced beautiful art projects and gained scientific wisdom through the projects they worked on.
Life Goes On
Ellen Crocker/Stephanie Symith
4th grade Konawaena Elementary
Stephanie and Ellen collaborated
on a visual arts integrated science
unit. Ellen introduced students to
ODIW, elements of art and design
principles. Stephanie, using iPads,
worked with the students in
exploring, researching and writing
about the habitats regarding the
Hawaiian coral reef food chain. Students created as individuals and as a class on several art projects. Art helped the students learn about the food chains because they learned how creatures were linked while creating them.
Learning about Plants through Collage
Marcia Pasqua/Akeyo Garcia
Kindergarten/Ewa El
Students learn science observation skills and the parts plants by learning to draw and create collages of various plants in their environment. Through exploration, they discover some of the many uses of plants and begin to understand that plants play an important role in their everyday lives.
Visual Arts and Science
Marcia Pasqua/Akeyo Garcia
Kindergarten/Ewa El
Learning to draw realistically requires focus and keen observation skills. It requires learning to see. In this integrated visual arts and science unit, students learn observation and sorting skills as they learn to draw leaves.
Wonder is the beginning of knowledge
Lisa Louise Adams/Ku'ulei Vickery
2nd grade/Waikoloa El
Through the lens of WONDER students made Science Journals filled with their observational data of drawings and words. Our covers were created with leaf rubbings and watercolors. We kept lessons simple, allowing students to move from perfection anxiety to exploring and practicing their drawing skills.
Curiosity leads to Inquiry
Lisa Louise Adams/Jenna Nakao
4th grade/Waikoloa El
Curiosity was the driving force when studying Land Formations and honing observational skills through different drawing exercises. Our Science Journals included detailed realistic drawings, fast gestural drawings and collage with inferred drawings. Students were able to go beyond the textual content knowledge and apply that newly gained information into a visual representation of the scientific process of inquiry and physical science standards.
You Know More than You Know You Know
Ellen Crocker/Liz Bryan
4th grade/Konawaena El
Students learned about animal and plant cells through visual art. Drawing both types of cells with ebony pencils, students drew shapes, learned about value, forms and colors, then they looked at and discussed the differences of the cells. Oil pastels were introduced and students created paintings inspired from their close up studies of animal and plant cells.
Patterns: The Ocean and Me
Ellen Crocker/Joanna Schiller
1st/2nd grade, Innovations School
This is a science and visual arts integrated unit designed to teach students that the ocean is full of patterns and to understand what the patterns tell us about the ocean. We taught this by having students create patterns by stamping, printing, sand art, and painting. They used radial symmetry, bilateral symmetry and rotational symmetry in their artwork. Students created many patterned pieces and then combined them to make personal collages and a classroom mural.
Exploring Social Studies Through Drawing
Ellen Crocker/Joanna Schiller
1st grade/Honaunau El
This diginar showcases a visual arts integrated residency in which students learned to…
• identify qualities of famous people like being focused, hardworking, determined, responsible and passionate.
• apply these same qualities to their drawings of famous people and their self portraits.
• learn the elements of art: shape, line, value and color.
• write reflections on each person studied and how they can make a difference in others’ lives.
Words Communicate Through Art
Lisa Louise Adams/R. Ku'ulei Vickery
2nd grade/Waikoloa El
Ku`ulei and Lisa Louise from Volcano, Hawai`i worked together using their professional expertise and discovered how words help communication through art. Second graders experimented with watercolors making three Common Core reference books for narrative, argumentative and informational styles.
Jenna and Lisa Louise collaborated in a residency focused on Hawaiian culture. Students learned the art techniques of drawing and print making along with the importance of understanding the ahupua`a system. The print making technique of ancient Hawaii was updated using modern materials. Students actively engaged in understanding how Hawaiian culture and ancient history helps us be empathetic and contributing members of society.
Understanding the Ahupua'a
Lisa Louise Adams/Jenna Nakao
4th grade/Waikoloa El