First grade had a special treat – a real life visit and story reading by an author and visual artist! Matthew Farina, author of Lawrence in the Fall, paid a special visit to the three first grade classes to read his book, which complemented their recent study of autumn leaves.
Mr. Farina is a published author, visual artist, administrator and doctoral student. He spoke about the science behind why leaves change color in the fall and gave them some clever ideas for artwork they can make at home using leaves. Students asked excellent questions and even showed him some of their artwork!
They had a great discussion about different styles of art, the process of becoming and identifying as an artist and a writer, how they complement each other, and the importance of persistence. We are grateful to Mr. Farina for being so generous with his time and inspiring our students to continue their journeys as lifelong readers!
To continue their learning around autumn and Lawrence in the Fall, Mrs. Vazquez worked on a special “Lawrence” project with the first grade. Since the main character of the book, Lawrence, is a fox, students created fox collages and painted and cut fall leaves out of coffee filters!
