Everson Elementary Students Collaborate Across Grades on Art Project

All it took was for one kindergarten teacher at Everson Elementary to notice the skill from a third-grade class and a new collaboration was born that paired third-grade students with kindergartners in what turned out to be far more than a simple art project. 

"I started noticing how beautiful Madie's class artwork was at the beginning of the school year," says Sara Adkins, kindergarten teacher about Madie Holz's third-grade class. "The work is so beautiful and creative, and I mentioned how much I would love for my kindergarteners to experience art in that way."

So, a collaboration was born that had the third graders buddy with a kindergartner on an art project, the first buddy class project for the two teachers post-pandemic. 

The resulting project was a side-by-side portrait, where each student in the buddy pair drew the other. The effort started with the two students meeting each other and then reading books they were working on with each other. "This was a great way to ease them into the art project," Adkins says. 

Then came the art. "We were both so impressed by the craftsmanship o each painting," Adkins says. "Students jumped right in and felt no shyness or hesitation. Their art turned out beautifully and we're really looking forward to collaborating on another project in the near future."