Fields of Daffodils

1. Ask students what a community means to them. Have them think about their local neighborhood, rural area, town, or suburb. How do the people in a community help one another? How can one community help another? Conduct a classroom discussion.
2. On October 20, 2001, communities in New York City started The Daffodil Project. More than 10,000 volunteers planted 1.5 million daffodil bulbs. These bulbs were donated by people and organizations in the Netherlands and New York. This project brings a spirit of hope to the city. The daffodils remind people each year of the heroic rescue and recovery efforts after the tragedy on September 11, 2001. Each spring a golden Field of Daffodils weave through the city in more than 1000 parks and green spaces.
3. Students cover their art area with newspaper. To make a daffodil, students first find out about the parts of these spring flowers. Paint a small paper plate yellow and orange. Use Crayola® Washable Paint.
4. With Crayola Scissors, cut two strips (about 3 in x 12 in [7 cm x 30 cm]) from a recycled file folder. Paint one white, gold (mix orange and yellow), and yellow. Paint the other strip green for the flower stem. Dry.
5. Use Crayola School Glue to glue the ends of the yellow strip together to make a crown loop. Dry.
6. Cut four small slits around the edges on one side of the loop. Fold the edges out to make four tabs. Put glue on each tab. Attach crown to the painted plate to make a blooming daffodil. Dry.
7. Cut around the edges of the plate to make it look fringed or scalloped (wavy) if you like. Glue the green stem to the back of the daffodil.
8. Display your daffodil with others made by classmates to make a Field of Daffodils.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

SS: Explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns.

SS: Describe how people create places that reflect ideas, personality, culture, and wants and needs as they design homes, playgrounds, classrooms, and the like.

VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.

VA: Select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of ideas.

Encourage small groups of students to investigate how communities work together to improve the lives of others. They can begin this investigation in their schools, interviewing the administrators. Prior to the interviews, students compose questions and post their learning to a class blog.

Invite a community leader to visit with the class and share ways in which their community is helping to improve the lives of others. Prior to the visit, students compose questions for the leader. After the meeting, students post learning to a class blog.

Have students work in small groups to identify an area of need within their school community. Students organize a plan and present it to their teacher and the school administration for approval. With the assistance of adults, students implement their plan and evaluate it as they proceed.