Dare County Schools

All in the Details- NHES second grader CeeCee Donahue in Mrs. Sander's class displays a page in her nature journal. Art teacher Cindy Wise says the journal that CeeCee is holding is one that she basically made herself from start to finish - folding paper, adding spine, edges, drilling holes with a hand drill and binding the book using the Japanese Bookbinding technique. (Every K-5 student is crafting their own nature journal in Wise's classes this year.) "Using a loupe, CeeCee observed an insect from the Private Eye World in a Box kit, drew the insect and wrote down some things about which the insect reminded her (thinking by analogy)," noted Wise. "She did a fabulous job!" Wise purchased the a comprehensive science kit and nature themed prints by Master Artists after being awarded a grant by the Toshiba America Foundation in its Grants Program for K-6 Science Education for her project, Nature: Up Close and Personal.

Photos: Cindy Wise

Nags Head Elementary School art teacher Cindy Wise was awarded a $940 grant from Toshiba America Foundation through its Grants Program for K-6 Science and Math Education. In her project, Nature: Up Close and Personal, Wise has come up with a variety of ways in which her students have and will use nature as a theme in art by using jeweler's loupes for up-close observations of nature, natural specimens, and works of Master Artists. With the grant funds, Wise purchased prints of nature-themed Master Artist's works and a Science Kit called "Private Eye."

"We now have a set of loupes (hand held magnifiers), a "World in a Box" specimen kit (that includes an assortment of insects, shells, seed pods and so forth) and a microscope.  The students have been learning to observe through a loupe and record their findings in their journals," describes Wise. She encourages students to observe through the eyes of an artist/scientist, to record what they observe (not what they know) about the specimen; and to think by analogy. As the weather warms, students will use them in NHES' outdoor classroom areas to take advantage of the mini pond habitat and butterfly garden to observe plants, flowers, seed pods, insects, seasonal changes and whatever else captures their eye and document these findings in their nature journals.

All of Wise's students (K-5) are making their own nature journals this year. Wise took a workshop at Pocosin Arts on Bookmaking, and thought the journals were intriguing, and a great way to incorporate the developing outdoor classroom into the art curriculum. She now smiles and calls the journal endeavor a "once in a lifetime project." Kindergarten through third grade students are making one type of journal, and fourth and fifth graders are crafting another.