Students at Woodbrook Elementary are bringing the world-famous Monet Gardens in France to Albemarle County.
Pre-kindergartners through fifth graders created a three dimensional replica of impressionist painter Claude Monet's gardens in the north of France. The kids used recyclable material including cardboard, tissue paper, and popsicle sticks to design flowers and other structures.
"In general it was like, choose a flower the kids could make and then have them make the flowers," said Woodbrook Art Teacher Joan Chapman. She continued, "I knew the fifth graders would be doing the structures the boat, the bridge, and the trellis."
"It's definitely better than what I thought. It looks really good, said fifth grader Chole Bain.
The students started on the project in March, dividing the work amongst grade levels. Paul Russell says he enjoyed learning about Claude Monet in the process, but says at times it was challenging.
"It was kind of hard cause like you need to make different shapes out of cardboard and other kinds of papers, said Russell. Chapman says the replica is more than just an art project, rather it helps students advance critical thinking skills.
"We reinforced a lot of the SOL's… measuring, geometry, the parts of a flower and resource use," said Chapman The project was funded by a $1,000 grant from Woodbrook's Parent Teacher Organization.
