Arts Update: Fern Family Tree
The Fern Family Tree is finally up on the east fence of the school and it looks amazing!
There are so many people that worked hard to make this the spectacular piece that it is. Thank you to everyone who put in time and creativity to make this project happen.
This project started with an idea of bringing the Fern school community together. We wanted to show the students that our school is an extension of their families - a place they belong to where they can feel safe and supported, and that this idea also extends to the greater community we live in. We also wanted to continue our efforts in bringing visual art to Fern. We couldn't think of a better way than a 14-foot tall tree with 80 leaves, surrounded by 110 bugs!
We hope that the Fern Family Tree will inspire people to be creative, to volunteer their time to our school, to bring more art to Fern and most importantly, we hope it will show people that, together, we can make amazing things happen!
With some careful planning we started by reaching out to our community and received donations from local building centres and hardware stores. Then, after a couple of work-weekends with some very dedicated parent volunteers drawing, cutting, sanding, and painting, we were ready to work with the kids.
Again with the help of parent volunteers, the Kindergarten students painted their beautiful impressions of insects. Next, we went inside the classrooms of Mme Burns' (FI grades), Mr. Sy's (grade 5 EF), Ms. Ashforth's (grade 5), and Ms. Chakungal's (grade 4 EF) to work with their students to decorate the leaves. Once dry, the students wrote out their words best describing family. The children really enjoyed using our Graffiti markers, which were donated by a school parent and promised to last forever!
With help from Fern's Free The Children club, we spent Wednesday lunch hours writing out each person's name who is part of our school. From students to kitchen staff, we included everyone on the tree. On Monday June 4th, the parents came together again to install the tree. The Kindergarten students each had the opportunity to choose where they wanted to hang their bug so that they could proudly show their creative work. That afternoon a crowd formed around the tree. Children searched for their names and proudly discussed their experience to their parents. peers and caregivers.
The Fern school community came together and we realized the tree was a great success.
Again, thank you to all of the passionate volunteers, students, parent council and the school for providing us the opportunity to see this project through.
It was worth every minute!
Taya Kozak-Goebel
Chair - Arts Committee
There are so many people that worked hard to make this the spectacular piece that it is. Thank you to everyone who put in time and creativity to make this project happen.
This project started with an idea of bringing the Fern school community together. We wanted to show the students that our school is an extension of their families - a place they belong to where they can feel safe and supported, and that this idea also extends to the greater community we live in. We also wanted to continue our efforts in bringing visual art to Fern. We couldn't think of a better way than a 14-foot tall tree with 80 leaves, surrounded by 110 bugs!
We hope that the Fern Family Tree will inspire people to be creative, to volunteer their time to our school, to bring more art to Fern and most importantly, we hope it will show people that, together, we can make amazing things happen!
With some careful planning we started by reaching out to our community and received donations from local building centres and hardware stores. Then, after a couple of work-weekends with some very dedicated parent volunteers drawing, cutting, sanding, and painting, we were ready to work with the kids.
Again with the help of parent volunteers, the Kindergarten students painted their beautiful impressions of insects. Next, we went inside the classrooms of Mme Burns' (FI grades), Mr. Sy's (grade 5 EF), Ms. Ashforth's (grade 5), and Ms. Chakungal's (grade 4 EF) to work with their students to decorate the leaves. Once dry, the students wrote out their words best describing family. The children really enjoyed using our Graffiti markers, which were donated by a school parent and promised to last forever!
With help from Fern's Free The Children club, we spent Wednesday lunch hours writing out each person's name who is part of our school. From students to kitchen staff, we included everyone on the tree. On Monday June 4th, the parents came together again to install the tree. The Kindergarten students each had the opportunity to choose where they wanted to hang their bug so that they could proudly show their creative work. That afternoon a crowd formed around the tree. Children searched for their names and proudly discussed their experience to their parents. peers and caregivers.
The Fern school community came together and we realized the tree was a great success.
Again, thank you to all of the passionate volunteers, students, parent council and the school for providing us the opportunity to see this project through.
It was worth every minute!
Taya Kozak-Goebel
Chair - Arts Committee
Please feel free to help support the businesses that supported us. Included are: Pollocks' Home Hardware, High Park Wallpaper and Paint, Down Town Lumber, New Canadian Lumber, Noah's Marine Supply, Woolfitt's Art Supply, and Stockyards Home Depot.
