Students in the Write

What would you do if you were elected president? How would you help to make the world a better place? Over the past few months, the children have been learning about different countries, states, and communities as well as environmental factors in social studies. They learned that some countries and communities have more resources to offer than others. The children in Ms. Dimmie’s 2nd grade class decided to write about the changes that they would make if they were elected president of the United States.

To hear Ms. Dimmie’s students explain their presidential platforms, click here.

Impressionism is alive and well at Morse School this spring. The entire school is working on projects inspired by the work of French Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Impressionism was a French art movement of the late 19th century characterized by the representation of a scene, objects, or figure through the application of paint in dabs of color in order to give an impression of the view rather than an accurate, photographic-like depiction.

Third graders have finished their own canvases after studying the Poppy Field Landscapes of Claude Monet (see gallery). Students were introduced to the concept of space and landscape perspective by learning how to define and create: foreground, middle ground and background. Their paintings were executed on canvas as were Monet’s, applying paint in thick dabs of paint. We were all amazed at how all the individual dabs worked together to produce beautiful landscapes. In addition, the third graders are also creating large murals for the auditorium in an Impressionistic style.

Meanwhile, the second grade is working with Monet’s Water Lilies. Students are creating their own water lily in oil pastels to be included in a large mural. We are concentrating on how to create form with color and value.

Click here to visit our gallery.

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Several of Mrs. Praino’s second grade students were studying the poem “The Ride of Paul Revere” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with Mrs. Hickey. They decided to create a web-tribute to this historic poet in celebration of “Poetry Month.” The students illustrated some of the stanzas, and with Mrs. Hickey’s guidance, recorded their recitation. Then Mr. Calvert merged the illustrations with the recordings into the vodcast you see here. Click “Play” above to look and listen to this historic poem.