Full Text:

Seventh Graders Draw Inspiration From The Ram Pasture

(with photos)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Planned with a distinctive interdisciplinary flair, an event in the Ram

Pasture became the impetus for new discovery in geography, biology, English

and art.

Seventh graders from Joanne Sheehan's and Margitta Savo's classes waded with

the minnows and collected samples for microscopic analysis on their field trip

to the Ram Pasture on Monday, October 6.

Later they sketched the scenic beauty and let their hearts feel and express

the depth of the moment in writing and drawing.

Philip Lombardo, taken by the moment of exquisite beauty, sat on the stone

bridge, musing quietly to himself "time is forever." The wind gusted through

the trees sending a flurry of brilliant leaves to the water below. The water

surface responded to the ducks swimming by breaking into a million facets of

reflected light, altering the peaceful rippling patterns of the wind.

"I want to sit here for hours and watch. Everything is so -" Philip pauses, as

if no word can capture it. "- naturific!"

"I haven't been here since I was six, but I'm coming here with my skateboard,

and drawing this pond from here, and over there, and all perspectives."

Mrs Sheehan was delighted. She urges students to "keep your writing and

artwork quick, spontaneous and loose." She commented to the class that "We

will engage in the ritual of searching, gathering, questioning and knowing."

Other students involved themselves in gathering of a different nature. Bret

O'Dell calls to friends from under the bridge, "My shoes are soaked! I caught

two minnows. Where's the crayfish? Oh, a water spider! Quick, get it!"

Emerging soggy footed but smiling, he shows off his catch of the day.

Courtney Smith, watching from the bridge, questions, "How does the algae stick

with the water flowing over it?" Mindy Kovack and Robin Pacheco are quick to

clamber over rock and stream to help her collect samples of the algae.

"Maybe it has barbs that cling on to the stone," one student suggests.

They will analyze the algae under the microscope, along with water samples

taken at different locations in the pond, to shed some light on the ways of

micro-organisms.

Students are all expected to draw a map without using any man-made measuring

devices, which makes them unwittingly simulate some of the complexities of map

making.

Robin walked around the pond and concluded that it was 787 paces to go all the

way around. "That's about half a mile, I think," says Robin. "Shawna fell in

by the stream," she added as an afterthought.

Shawna soon returned, another soggy-footer, only to have their statement on

the size of the pond questioned. Michael Ferrara said, "How come you got 787

paces? I got 1,450. You didn't go all the way around."

"I did!" counters Robin. "I ran like this!" She leaps along, not to be proven

wrong. Students start to realize that measurement does not only depend on the

size of your step, but on how mucky you are willing to get your feet.

Michael's careful steps gave wider berth to the pond, making it seem larger.

How do you define where one physical feature starts and another ends? The

field trip seemed to present more questions than it answered.

It did, however, answer some. Students were sent on a scavenger hunt, and

found evidence of climate, abrasion, and animal contact. They collected rocks

that they estimated were 100 grams in weight, leaves 10 centimeters long, and

a volume of 50 milliliters of sand, with no measuring devises provided until

afterwards.

As students switched perspectives, played and worked, they developed a

stronger appreciation of nature, art and science.