Lilja Duck Stamp Artwork

This week, the kids looked through all of their artworks for the Junior Duck Stamp contest. They have created quite a portfolio - works done in pencil, colored pencil, watercolor, oil pastels, cut paper and tempera paint. From this collection, each student chose their 2 best artworks. The one they considered their VERY best was sent into Mass Wildlife for the official contest. Their second best picture has been displayed in the hallway for our own in-house Lilja Duck Stamp Contest. 

Each artwork will have a number (no names) so that our in-house judges can give an unbiased decision about which artwork in each class they would merit with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and honorable mention awards. Our special judges include our principal, vice-principal, office staff, our nurse, our specialist teachers, our custodians and other professionals in the building who know our kids. They will be given ballots on the Monday after vacation and asked to return their recommendations for which artworks stand out. 

We don’t know who will win, but are excited for ourselves and our classmates at the possibilities! It is a great growth opportunity for kids to learn how to be gracious in congratulating someone who wins and also be compassionate in comforting those whose works are not selected. Learning to be happy for someone who wins can be the best way to defuse our own feelings of disappointment when we, ourselves, do not win.

Check out the works below and ask your child which is theirs!

Feathers are Fascinating

This week we read a book by Melissa Stewart called Feathers: Not Just For Flying.  While we knew that feathers were an important and defining trait of being part of the bird family, we learned all the ways that feathers help birds - many of which were surprising! 

We knew that feathers keep birds warm as a protective outer covering that trap heat and that soft feathers could be used by mother birds to line her nest like a cushion to protect her eggs. It was interesting to discover that feathers also protect a bird's skin like sunscreen as well as work like umbrellas to shade an area over water to help a bird spot prey under the surface. 

While some birds use oils from special glands to make their feathers waterproof to help them float or to repel water like a rain jacket, other birds' feathers are designed to absorb water like a sponge to bring water to baby chicks. And some use the added weight of their water logged feathers to help them sink in the water to reach the fish, crayfish and shrimp they are hunting for. 

There are even more ways feathers help birds in their daily lives - for camouflage, for cleaning themselves, for attracting a mate or distracting a predator and many more!

Check out the pictures below of the observational feather drawings students created using feathers from our class collections.