Nest For Celeste Activities in Art Class
Students in Mr. DeMarco’s art classes have been excited to make projects that are connected to The Nest For Celeste book. First grade students made bird sculptures out of Model Magic and nestled them inside homemade nests. To begin the process, they learned about different kinds of nests. Then, they made nests with burlap and watered down glue. Finally, they completed their work by making birds, their first 3D works of the school year, and placed them inside the nests.
Second graders have been creating Audubon inspired bird illustrations. After choosing their favorite American bird, they drew the birds with pencil and permanent marker. The students gave extra attention to the contour and texture of each bird. Next, they colored the illustrations with colored pencil. As part of their instruction, the second graders learned how Audubon created his artwork by etching onto a copper plate.
Fifth grade students are in the early stages of creating miniature houses out of paper. Students began the lesson by learning about dollhouse miniatures throughout history, including the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago, which they visited as fourth graders. They also learned about the role of an interior designer and about the different types of color schemes they could incorporate into their projects.
Fourth Graders Take the Perspective of Celeste
Students in Mrs. Stevens’ class used their writing skills to write riddles about where Celeste might like to make a nest at Olive. They began the project by brainstorming what Celeste would look for in a nest. For example, she’d want to be out of the way of the rats, and she’d love to have friends nearby. Then, they wrote riddles so that others could guess their nest location. The next step was to take a photo of the place and a photo of themselves. Finally, they cropped the picture of themselves and put it into the “nest” that they had photographed through an iPad app. The riddles covered the pictures so that others could guess the nest’s location.
