Daily Progress, Jacksonville, TX

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Art aiding science lessons

Combining art and science classes has become a norm for many schools looking to put an artistic twist to science.
West Side Elementary Principal Sandi Jones said to teach at an elementary school, all teachers are required to teach all subjects.
Jones said the school's art and science lab is one class.
“Art and science go hand in hand,” she said, “It provides extra hands-on activities.”
The student's four season project is one example of using art to learn about science.
Art teacher Carolyn Cornelius said as the students get older and move on to the next grade level, they use what they learned from their previous year to learn about the next topic.
Cornelius said they will learn about the water cycle in one grade and learn about high and low pressure in the next.
With jobs getting harder to find and budget cuts across the board, other educators have found themselves teaching more than one subject at a time by choice.
Mary Lewis is a professor at Jacksonville College and is chair of the social science department, head of the theatre department, and teaches government, history and theatre.
“A lot of times, in order to become employed, you have to be versatile,” she said. “You need to teach more than one subject to make yourself valuable in the job market.”
— Marivel Resendiz

Related Photos

  • Concentrating, first grader Daniel Lane decorates his spring tree with pink tissue paper to demonstrate the flowers. Progress photo Marivel Resendiz

    The art of four seasons

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November 13, 2011

The art of four seasons

Marivel Resendiz Jacksonville Daily Progress

JACKSONVILLE — As first graders divided their paper into four sections and drew leafless trees in each quadrant, the students waited for art teacher Carolyn Cornelius to give them their next instruction.

As the leaves are changing colors and the cooler temperatures approach, Westside Elementary students worked on an art/science project about the four seasons.

“First graders don't really know about seasons,” Cornelius said. “We try and emphasize changes occur according to the weather.”

After the students decorated fall trees with orange, brown and yellow tiny pieces of construction paper, Cornelius gave each student five cotton balls to demonstrate the snow for winter. When they found out three of the five cotton balls could be used to make a snowman, the students shouted enthusiastically.

Jason Lopez said the two things he knew about winter was “snow is white and it is cold.”

Transitioning into spring, Cornelius asked the students what the trees would look like. Without glancing at the season posters on the wall, hands shot up into the air.

“They will have flowers,” Daniel Lane said.

Cornelius gave each of the students tiny squares of tissue paper to demonstrate the flowers.

When it was time to paint the green leaves to emphasize summer, Cornelius notified the children the paint brushes they normally used were being used by another teacher, so she said she had another idea in mind.

“We're going to use something you probably never thought you could use to paint with,” she said. “We're going to dip the flat end of the color pencil, not the point end, and press it along the branches.”

As the students had the opportunity to dip their color pencil in the paint, smiles from ear to ear formed and they shouted “cool” to the idea of breaking the rules and not using paint brushes.

Proud of his work, Jayden Jackson made sure his tree was full of green and proudly showed it to Cornelius.

“Look Ms. Cornelius, I made a lot of leaves,” he said.

Cornelius said she not only likes to teach the different items than can be used in art, she also likes to teach different techniques that can be used.

“Art is very hands on, but so is science,” she said. “You're not going to learn if you're not having fun,” she said.

As the students put their finishing touches to their summer trees and left them to dry, and they signed their artwork.

“I have them sign their name because I want them to be proud of it,” Cornelius said. “It's their artwork.”

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