A Tree in Bloom
May 12, 2021 | Felicity Greene
Last week, the children had began work completing observational drawings of spring leaves that were found outside during park time.
After a few days of having the leaves inside, the children noticed that they were not keeping so well, instead becoming dried up and crumpled. However, the children still wanted to fill the classroom tree with more leaf drawings. So, the they made use of the class iPad by taking it to the park to capture some close up photos of leaves.
Then back to the classroom it was to get to work. The children once again took time to carefully observe the leaf images and represent them through observational drawing, adding small details and paying close attention to the colors that they saw.
“Every leaf has lines.”
“I wonder what they are for?”
“The lines are for maybe making stems.”
After the children finished their drawings of several kinds of leaves, they worked to cut the leaves out and hole punch them to add green string. This was the final step before hanging the leaves on the branches of the classroom tree. Slowly but surely, the branches began to be filled with beautiful leaves of all different shapes and sizes.
“I can see the one I made! They make our tree beautiful.”
Felicity Greene
Teacher, Sky Class
Felicity Greene joined staff in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a minor in Children’s Literature and Childhood Studies. During her student teaching placement, Ms. Greene immediately felt at home in the classroom and is delighted to now be working at Mustard Seed among such a supportive and stimulating staff.
Excited to work at a school where she is free to incorporate her faith, Ms. Greene facilitates expression and exploration of faith with her students in the Sky class. She’s passionate about the role of literature in a child’s development and interested in development in general. She’s grateful to work at a school that pays such close attention to developmental markers in children, as she views developmental awareness to be a vital tool in teaching and caring for each child.
Ms. Greene is also delighted to be back in New Jersey where she grew up, able to be close to her childhood church community and family, especially now that she is newly an aunt. Along with her love of teaching, Ms. Green is passionate about baking as well as ice skating, in which she has competed in both individual and team competitions for more than twelve years. In addition to competing, Felicity also enjoyed coaching both children and adults with the Special Olympics Figure Skating Program in West Orange, New Jersey for several years.
