We focused on the work of Beatrix Potter for the author/illustrator theme. There is a lovely and informative movie called Miss Potter that the third through eighth grade students watched. I highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it. The younger students saw a different film that was biographical and that animated some of her stories. We read a picture book about her and looked at her paintings, drawings and books. I explained that the animals in her books are often anthropomorphic and that many picture books have animal characters who seem human. The characters seem more universal to us when they are animals. Beatrix Potter carefully studied live animals to be able to draw them so beautifully in her picture books.
While we were exploring Beatrix Potter's work, I happened to hear from Carol at the Washtenaw Bird Center who now has a blue jay for educational purposes. This bird named Blue was rescued from a fallen nest, and then became tame by people who were unaware of the hazards for a bird who becomes too comfortable with humans. It is then in danger of fearful people who might swat or hurt a bird that lands on a shoulder or seems threatening in some other way. So Carol brought him to school for the students to study and draw.
I showed the children sketches that Beatrix Potter did of animals and pointed out how she studied a moving creature, drawing bits and pieces for informational purposes. I suggested that they look at the beak for instance, and memorize it before drawing, and continue to work in that way with other parts of the bird. Here are some of Beatrix Potter's sketches:
And here are some Summers-Knoll student drawings of Blue:
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