A lesson in nurturing nature

Elia Powers

While a rainstorm soaked trees outside Sarah Schlatter’s second-grade

classroom, her 20 students diligently traced the outlines of dry

leaves onto blank white paper.

The Sonora Elementary School students used pencils to shade and

their imaginations to arrange the leaves into patterns on the page.

The class completed the group art project in preparation for the

Youth Expo at this spring’s Orange County Fair. Students will help

mount their work together on a large colored sheet of paper, which be

will be on display from April 29 through May 1 at the fairgrounds in

Costa Mesa.

Schlatter said classes from preschool to 12th grade throughout the

area will compete for an undisclosed prize given at the event.

The fair’s theme, “It’s Easy Being Green,” fit into the class’

three-week unit, entitled “Leaf a good impression.” Schlatter said

the class spent the time learning about preservation issues and

studying various types of animals and plants.

The group also took a nature walk and learned basic lessons about

predators and prey as part of the unit.

“When we started, most of them didn’t know what a stream was,” she

said. “It’s been new to them. They are soaking up information.”

The class collected more than 400 leaves well before they became

saturated with water. Students chose which leaves they wanted to use

and placed them between their desks and the sheet of paper.

Reflecting upon the unit, students said they enjoyed hearing about

scientific processes such as photosynthesis and learning information

about preservation that they can use in their everyday lives.

“I like learning about how to keep the Earth clean,” said Kayela

Miller, 7, of Costa Mesa.

For 7-year-old Maya Lopez of Costa Mesa, the exercise allowed her

to perfect her drawing skills. She said she usually draws members of

her family but enjoyed the change of pace using a live object in her

art.

“It’s neat, because when you draw over the leaves, it looks like

the real thing on the paper,” Maya said.