Tricon Elementary School | ArtsSmarts Newfoundland and Labrador

Over three months this fall, every student at Tricon Elementary School partnered with visual artist Kelly McEntegar-Sheppard on a project entitled Exploring our Culture . . . on Deck and Below. The 105 students in kindergarten through grade 6 each worked on a different project exploring the Newfoundland and Atlantic Ocean environment through the arts. Kindergarten and grade 1 students created clay sculptures of sea creatures and puffins, which the grade 1 students made into a rhyming number book. Grade 2 students explored the biodiversity of the ocean by creating silk paintings of ocean habitats. The grade 3 students created acrylic paintings of seascapes and objects from traditional Newfoundland and Labrador life. The grade 4 students studied the social dynamics of an outport and then modeled the community with recycled objects. The grade 5 and 6 students created a mural exploring the relationships between ocean life and the people living nearby. All of this connected their science, social science and math curriculum to the arts.