This picture, created through the site, instantly reminded me of one of my favourite artists, Ted Harrison. When I taught junior grades I used to integrate a Ted Harrison study into my Canadian units. Among the typical Canada and World Connections strands of Social Studies, I would also introduce some literacy connections, in particular, "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and "The Shooting of Dan McGrew." Although these choices my seem macabre to some at first thought, there was a method to my madness. Both of these poems were not only written by the famous poet, Robert Service, who has been labelled the "Bard of the Yukon," but they have been recently reintroduced to our generation of kids through some picture books, brightly illustrated by none other than Ted Harrison himself.
Once I had read these poems to my students we would embark on the journey of exploring Ted Harrison's artistic style. When we felt we had a grasp of it, we would begin to paint the most wonderful, colourful pieces of work. The painting to the left was produced by Brandon, one of my Grade 6 students. He could spend hours on his artwork and I would imagine he would continue to be inspired through http://thisissand.com/.
If you want your younger students to become mesmerized by this sand experience, connect to the link via your SMART Board. Kids can use their finger to drop the sand and the onscreen keyboard to change colours. Gradient colours can be set up by dragging between two colours in the clicker. Through some experimentation, I found out if you double click, the sand magically falls continuously without having to touch the board. It's quite a soothing sound and display and could actually be used as a calming effect for those times when it is most needed...rainy days after indoor recess come to mind...
