Literary and visual arts: a dynamic duo at Glen Flora Elementary

What’s better than a poetry book? A poetry book with pictures, of course! Fourth and fifth graders at Glen Flora Elementary showed off their skills in the written AND visual arts with help from literary teaching artist, Maia Morgan, whose residency was integrated with the students’ visual arts class. After studying the works of poetry greats like Sylvia Plath, Robert Francis, and Marvin Bell, students got a chance to write three different poems of their own: a self-portrait in metaphors, a poem that investigated and reflected on nuances of color, and an ode. Next, Maia showed the class how to put them together with a book binding technique using embroidery floss and cardstock; they then illustrated their poetic masterpieces as they saw fit. The results were pretty impressive – just take a look at some of their finished products!