Each day, during a 30 minute open slot, I meet with two 2nd graders and help them with their reading. Their teacher explained to me that in their current story, the girls were struggling understanding the different aspects of seasonal changes (the order, names, and conditions etc). This idea immediately popped into my head and I believe it's a great example how the arts can be used in a classroom to promote learning of difficult concepts. Oddly enough, during the process of this project, I learned that the girls did indeed understand the concepts of seasons - the changes, order, colors, conditions, etc. But working together on this project afforded us a lot of time to have a conversation about seasons. We talked a lot about the colors of the seasons (which colors would best represent fall for example). We found pictures from magazines and then used the "stuff" from the collage drawer. Here is their work.
Each day, during a 30 minute open slot, I meet with two 2nd graders and help them with their reading. Their teacher explained to me that in their current story, the girls were struggling understanding the different aspects of seasonal changes (the order, names, and conditions etc). This idea immediately popped into my head and I believe it's a great example how the arts can be used in a classroom to promote learning of difficult concepts. Oddly enough, during the process of this project, I learned that the girls did indeed understand the concepts of seasons - the changes, order, colors, conditions, etc. But working together on this project afforded us a lot of time to have a conversation about seasons. We talked a lot about the colors of the seasons (which colors would best represent fall for example). We found pictures from magazines and then used the "stuff" from the collage drawer. Here is their work. 
I always believed it is a good idea to get the students working hangs-on with a project. This allows them to be creative and actually think of what the lesson is trying to teach them. I am sure when you had your students make this project they realized they knew a lot more about the changing seasons than they thought.
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