Around the turn of the last century, painter Henri Rousseau allowed imagination to gather what he saw of his country's native flowers and animals and transport him to the jungle scenes he is now famous for having painted.
Around the beginning of fall of this year, Windsor's second graders began to do the same.
Mrs. Wisnewski led students in observing flowers and birds they can find right here in Pennsylvania - robins, sparrows, and (at least one student's favorite) the hummingbird. They continued by observing everyday flowers and by learning about primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. With all this fuel for the imagination, they are crafting their own jungle scenes with paper, pencil, oil pastels, and water colors.
With unbounded enthusiasm, these artists are filling in stunning green leaves, vibrant hummingbirds, and hot pink flowers. They are learning to care for their watercolor palettes and consider the blending of colors. And like Henri Rousseau before them, they are seeing the exciting beauty of the nearby world that we can too easily dismiss as mundane.