Some very special books are coming home with Indian Lake Elementary School and Indian Lake Middle School students.
As the Indian Lake Elementary School Wetland Art Project is nearing completion, ILES Art Teacher Terry Nelson is handing out the recently delivered “Wild About Our Wetlands” alliterative alphabet books during art classes.
The books feature the clay letters on panels that students created with visiting polymer clay artist Melissa Terlizzi, which highlight all the flora and fauna that can be found in the wetland behind ILES.
Each letter is accompanied by an alliterative paragraph describing the plants, animals and insects and fun facts written by Mrs. Honaker’s current third- and fourth-grade language arts students and those students from two years ago.
Every page also has a QR code to direct readers to even more information about the wetland creatures. Students in Ryan Stanford’s graphic design classes at Indian Lake High School laid out the pages of the book and submitted it for publication.
“I really love that the high school students could be involved by preparing the pages for publication,” Nelson said. “They worked hard and Mr. Stanford showed great commitment for the project as well. I have heard a lot of compliments on how great both the display and book have turned out.”
Current sixth-grader Chloe Borgerding worked on the clay portion of the project as a 4th grader. She is excited to see her elm leaves and katydids which are part of the letters “E” and “K” in the book.
“I really enjoy nature and the outdoors, along with art and this project combined the two,” she said. “It was really fun to learn about all the plants and animals and make some of them.”
Current fourth-grader Brady Jackson’s monarch caterpillar is featured on the letter “M.”He said working on the project as a second-grader taught him a lot about the life cycle of insects.
“Like, I didn’t know that the monarch caterpillar was black and yellow striped. Then, when it turns into a butterfly, it’s orange and black.”
All students in grades 2-4 at ILES and grades 5-6 at ILMS will get a free copy of the book. Donations from the Logan County Electric Cooperative and Gathering Grounds Coffee paid for the publishing. The ILES PTO also supported the project, so that ILES students in kindergarten and first grade could order a copy at a reduced cost.
The books are just one part of the multi-faceted project made possible through a teaching grant from the Ohio Arts Council. Mrs. Nelson received the grant in 2019.
Terlizzi began working with students of every grade level in ILES art classes on the project throughout the fall and winter of that school year. Classes studied the plants and animals found in the nearby wetlands. Then they worked with Nelson and Terlizzi to design, cut, mold and create the life forms out of polymer clay.
The clay portion was nearing completion when the Covid-19 school closure shut down the project. Since then, Nelson and Terlizzi worked to finish all the letter panels, while ILHS students completed the books.
“I think the big take-away for me throughout the project has been how lucky we all are to be part of a school that can collaborate to accomplish big things,” Nelson said.
“Administrators, teachers, custodians, and students across many grade levels all put in time and effort that has made this a fun, educational, and beautiful art installation that will be enjoyed for years to come.
“The collaboration extends to the larger community as well, thanks to our sponsors. It makes me Laker proud!”
Now, the letters are mounted in a new display just outside the ILES Art Room. Nelson worked with Rick Fuller of Framing by Fuller to design the wall system which houses the panels. The project is now open to the public during school hours.