Island students put on art show that leads to hidden treasures

■ BY SUE ERWIN  
Reading Specialist Judy Still planned a creative journey for The Island School students to experience on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Second-grade students Carolina Pedraza and Will Duke created an art show at the Boca Grande Art Center by completing a variety of projects all week.
They mapped out directions for students to follow that would lead to a hidden treasure. Along the way, the children could observe things like what a city block looks like; which parts of the brain trigger senses like seeing, hearing and feeling; and study a drawing of the earth inspired by the book “Four Fur Feet” by Remy Charlip.
Still said that since the start of the school year, the students have read several books about maps and how they can be helpful when people need directions or are going to unfamiliar places. Carolina and Will created visual maps with written directions designed to lead them through the art show and eventually to a surprise treasure.
“My whole idea was to tie in literacy with some exciting things for the kids to do. So they’re reading, writing, listening and then recreating what they have seen and learned through these experiences – they’re using all their senses,” Still said.
The students toured a replica of Park Avenue to see what a city block consists of. Carolina and Will also climbed a rock wall and then were asked to identify what they saw and heard, and how they felt after trying to climb the wall. To illustrate this, they created papier-maché brain maps to identify which part of the brain uses which senses.
“They were very observant during the experiments. When they built a model of a city block, they made street signs and triangular-shaped houses and built things they saw on the walk, all from memory.”
Still would like to thank Karen Kelley and Jen Goslowski at The Island School for their time and effort involved in the project, and also Tanya Doherty from the Boca Grande Art Center for use of the building.