Salish Sea Art & Poetry Showcase (Div. 4, Gr. 4/5)
Welcome to our division 4 “Salish Sea Virtual Showcase”! We are a grade 4/5 class in SD61 in Victoria, British Columbia. We invite you explore the artworks and poems students created in response to their learning about our local ocean environment. Our class was so happy to be able to get out on the water in the “Wild 4 Whales” boat with a Eagle Wing Tour on February 7th!
PART 1: OUR SALISH SEA COLLABORATIVE POEM…
Our Collaborative Poem: Photo credits to Chrystelle Cote and Tom Filipovic (Eagle Wing Tours), along with other Eagle Wing Tours guests.
After receiving the wonderful photos from our trip aboard EagleWing’s “Wild 4 Whales” boat, the students each took some time to ponder all the images and write a few lines of poetry inspired by them in combination of their own memories. Then, as a class we reviewed and sorted the poetry lines to choose those lines that the students felt were the most powerful, interesting, and beautiful. We complied them into one big collaborative poem, which we present to you in the text below and video above.
PART 2: OUR BEST SALISH SEA POEMS OF THE TERM…
What do you see, smell, taste, hear, and touch when out on the Salish Sea? We have been working on “five senses” poems this term, and below is a selection of the best of our writing. Students wrote Salish Sea poems both BEFORE and AFTER their field trip out on the water—so we could compare how real life experiences could inform the creative process.
Applying poetic techniques helped students to create strong poems even before the boat trip. All term, students have been striving to make poetry with meaningful line breaks, alliteration, simile, metaphor, and rich, descriptive vocabulary. However, as you can read in the poems below, the most recent poems from Feb. 28 (created after the trip) seem to sing out in even more beautiful, sophisticated ways. I am so proud of our division 4 poets! We hope you enjoy this sample of some of this term’s poetic masterpieces…
PART 3: STUDENT ART GALLERY…
PART 4: OUR “PRE-TRIP” FIVE SENSES POEMS…
PART 5: SALISH SEA PAINTING TUTORIALS
Have you felt inspired by the students’ watercolour artworks shown above? Why not some of our techniques! Below you will find a 7-part “Salish Sea Watercolour Painting” mini-course that was recorded live in our division 4 classroom as I taught students various techniques. Learn along with us! The materials you will need are inexpensive, and in fact, I bought almost everything at Dollarama: You need watercolour paper, removable painters tape, any watercolour paint set, fine paint brush, paper towel, and a jar of water.
We thank you for your time exploring our work! We would love to hear your comments, questions, and feedback on our Salish Sea Art & Poetry Showcase!
Inquiry Ninja 