Hamilton High School students and Woodside Elementary School first graders celebrate the second year of a collaborative art project that brings the school district together and celebrates artists of all ages.
Early in the 2023-24 school year, first grade students were given the opportunity to dream up a silly ‘scranimal’ which is the combination of an animal and an object such as an alligator and a crayon or fish and a piano. Advanced Ceramic students at Hamilton High School then sculpt and paint the scranimal to match the first grader’s fictional creation.
“I think it is important for students to collaborate at any level,” explains Hamilton High School Art Teacher Bri Strelow. “This is especially fun for the high schoolers to get a little blast from the past about what art looks like at that really young age and see how far they have come.”
Woodside Elementary School Art Teacher Becky Vaughn says she really wants people to know how hard the first graders worked on these drawings. “They had to be very aware that the high schoolers were making these out of clay and how they drew their scranimal was very important. We worked as though they were architects and had to make sure the engineers and builders had the right information for the project.”
High school students and first graders alike enjoy the project. Vaughn explains why their teachers value the project for additional reasons. “One of the best parts was the kids had to do some real critical thinking and observing to get their animal and the object to flow together instead of just looking like two things cut and glued together,” says Vaughn. “They also thought it was pretty amazing that the high school students were creating a sculpture from their artwork!”
This is the second year of the collaborative project. Maple Avenue Elementary School students took part in the project during the 2022-23 school year. Strelow plans to rotate through the Hamilton School District’s four elementary schools and switch the drawing prompts for the first graders each year.
Woodside first grader classes read through two books before choosing objects and animals to combine. Students explored both ‘Scranimal’ by Jack Prelutsky and ‘Imaginals’ by Ken Eichenbaum and Wayne Arihood.
First graders get to keep the sculptures at the conclusion of the school year after they were on display all spring at both the Pauline Haass Library and the Hamilton Fine Arts Center.
“The first graders are beyond excited that they get to take the sculptures home,” says Vaugn. “Getting a letter from the high school student who created it makes it even more special.”