In second grade Art with Andrea Aimi and Valerie Garcia, students will study the watercolor work of Charles Burchfield, creating paintings that reflect the four seasons and exploring how color and shape can evoke different atmospheres. They will also study elements of design through printmaking, using soft balsa wood foam blocks that are environmentally sustainable and easy to carve. Students will learn the process of creating a two-color reduction print as part of this project.

Second grade Art also emphasizes the conservation of natural resources, as students build an “empathy forest” from recycled cardboard scraps to raise awareness of this social issue. Collage, drawing, paper making, and tempera painting will also be explored, with connections to both art history and contemporary art incorporated into many projects.

In second grade Shop with Isabel Dominguez and Valerie Garcia, students will deepen their understanding of sculptural forms by creating artworks with wire, cardboard, found objects, and wood. In addition to the woodworking tools they used in previous years, second graders will be introduced to the coping saw to cut circular forms. The emphasis in second grade Shop is on movement and form, as students experiment with assembling sculptures that can move in space.