Classroom Happenings: The Language of Art and Nature

Lower School Visual Arts Teacher Emily Wolfe leads a group of energetic kindergarten students through the Bryan Innovation Lab garden. It’s a muggy fall morning, and the last traces of summer flowers and herbs line the garden beds as the students follow a grassy pathway toward a new adventure.  

Ms. Wolfe guides her young hikers onto a covered wooden platform nestled in the woods behind the Bryan Lab and begins the lesson as she does all of her classes: with meditation. “Deep breath,” she instructs softly as the kindergarteners settle in and relax. “Close your eyes … inhale … and exhale.” 

“My goal is to teach students how to use meditation as a tool for focus and creativity,” said Ms. Wolfe. “We start by finding our ‘anchor,’ a tool that we use to calm our bodies in order for our minds to better focus. An anchor could be as simple as putting your hands together to remind your body to be calm. Once we have completed our mindful moment, we move into instruction time with focus.” 

On this day, Ms. Wolfe is helping her students make connections between nature and the alphabet. Extending one of her hands, she places a twig from the forest floor onto her palm and explains that students will work together in small groups to collect treasures from the woods and use them to create the letters of the alphabet.

“What part of a letter could be made using this piece?” she asks, holding up a curved twig. Several hands pop up. “The letter ‘D’!” says one student excitedly. “The letter ‘B’!” exclaims another. Ms. Wolfe nods, adding, “Each item you find needs to be no bigger than your hand.” Working in small groups, the young letter-builders bound through the woods, gathering leaves, sticks, stones, and acorns and placing them in tubs. 

The groups then plop down and, starting with “A,” use their newfound materials to create the alphabet on giant pieces of paper. “Cheer each other on!” encourages Ms. Wolfe as letters begin to take shape. This year’s schoolwide theme is “dialogue,” and the link between art and nature can inspire special forms of communication. As they create art, Ms. Wolfe’s students practice problem-solving and teambuilding, listen to birdsong and other woodsy “music,” and make meaningful connections between what they see, hear, say, and do. 

“By making letter shapes in a memorable way, students discover that art has broad definitions and does not have to be permanent,” said Ms. Wolfe. She added, “This lesson was inspired by alphabet paintings that kindergarteners completed in the art studio several weeks ago. Both experiences supported students’ learning of letter shapes and sounds and exercised their fine motor skills.”