They peer at you everywhere.
At first you don’t notice them. But as Grade 3 teacher Brenda Boreham points them out, you see Georgia Avenue Community School is overrun.
With frogs.
They’re painted green, constructed out of paper or coloured with artistic designs. They line the walls of the elementary school in clusters, giving a clue as to what the students are currently studying – Frog Girl, a children’s story by Paul Owen Lewis.
The story is one of two school-wide learning programs that teachers at Georgia Avenue present to students in September and in the spring.
Led by Boreham, who writes four learning plans for her colleagues to choose from, teachers present the story to their classes and then plan activities appropriate to each grade level and area of study.
Students complete the usual question-and-answer segments, but the themes in the book permeate into other areas of study; a science teacher rears tadpoles in her class. The largest segment involves art – music, visual art and dance – using the themes from the book.
“It becomes a holistic way of teaching,” Boreham said.
The story is based around an aboriginal legend of a girl who must rescue frogs from an awakened volcano, returning them to their “grandmother.”
The learning program included First Nations artists who demonstrated traditional crafting techniques.
Julie Joseph showed the children her skills weaving with cedar grass while sharing her history and stories about learning to weave.
Carver Solomon Seward showed the students his skills creating rings from copper and brought examples of silver jewelry he created. Joseph and Seward donated pieces to the school, which are on display in a glass cabinet.
“It all fits in with the theme but shows different skills,” Boreham said.
The students, ranging in age from kindergarten to Grade 7, combined for a school-wide art project, where older students helped the younger to create frogs out of construction paper.
“It’s such a lovely way to link students across grade levels,” Boreham said.
In their respective classes, the students also created masks in traditional aboriginal style and learned point dances and blanket dances to perform for a school-wide assembly performed during Arts and Culture Week in B.C.
Boreham’s class of Grade 3 and 4 students learned songs and poems, including Speaks to Me, by Chief Dan George, and The Elders are Watching.
Boreham, who writes for the national Canadian Teacher magazine, created the comprehensive learning program five years ago.
Its success led to her hosting workshops for teachers in other districts to bring similar programs to their schools.
“It’s a great way to bring the whole school together,” Boreham said.
arts@nanaimobulletin.com
