It takes a village

Every morning Can and I drive across the Yolo causeway and feel uplifted by the natural beauty around-the soft colors of the morning sky, the flocks of birds moving in unity, rising, falling, and swooping about, the fascinating shapes and patterns of the rice fields and farmland...all framed by the distant hazy mountains. What an extraordinarily beautiful community!

Escuelita is learning all about our world around us-our community. As we study what makes up a community, we think about the natural elements-land, animals, and growing things, the physical structures of buildings, shops, homes and the roads that connect them, and the people that live within-working, playing, and doing all the things that keep our community safe and thriving.

In Art, we've been thinking about the physical landscape of our community, and what better artist to study than local Wayne Thiebaud! We looked at his paintings of the delta landscape, and noticed the colors, shapes, lines, and patterns. We found ponds, creeks, roads, farms, houses, and trees. We created a collaborative landscape, painting our homes, school, parks, trees, and families.

We were especially drawn to the lines and patterns in the farmlands of Thiebaud's work, and utilized colored tape as a medium to create a dynamic group piece on our whiteboard. Students worked cooperatively to determine where the rivers, roads, and lands would be placed, and helped each other stretch out lengths of tape of appropriate sizes in alternating colors.

What colors, shapes, lines, and patterns do you notice when you are out in the community? Do you see straight or curvy roads? The repetitive vertical lines of street lights? Squares of cement that make up the sidewalks? The rectangles of doors and windows and triangular rooftops? Art is all around us!

My home. My School. The park. The store. The fire station. A tree in front of my house.
This is my neighborhood.

"A tree lives in my neighborhood. It's not living in my house but it lives by my house. The tree is alive. It's in my neighborhood. My mommy and daddy live in my neighborhood too. They live with me."

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs By,Judi Barrett

"We are building a play structure for our neighbors!"