First graders begin the year with a life-sized self-portrait.

Naturally, these drawings reflect what can be seen on the outside - their hair color and style, eye color, and, of course, their favorite outfit! These life-sized portraits live on the walls outside the first grade classroom for the entire school year. The first grade theme at GUS is Who Am I?, and, throughout the year, first graders explore the concept of self through interdisciplinary projects that focus on the five senses, the life cycles of animals, plants, and humans - and the human body. 

A second life-sized portrait is created as they begin their exploration of the five senses and the major systems of the human body. This portrait, an outline of their bodies, serves as the foundation for the first grade Body Project, a personal canvas for demonstrating all that they will learn. Throughout the course of the year they explore the respiratory, nervous, skeletal, circulatory, muscular, and digestive systems. As students master each system, they add them to their portrait - bubble wrap for lungs, streamers for veins and arteries, and buttons for teeth.

This year, the body project took on new life, at home. Students created an impressive array of bodies in varying shapes, sizes, and styles, using materials found in their homes. From cardboard cutouts for bones and mini marshmallow stomachs to sponge brains and clay veins, students found creative ways to bring their bodies to life and to showcase all they have learned about how our bodies work.

The Body Project encourages students to dig deeper into the question of Who Am I? - to think beyond the facts and visualize the complexities of who they are as human beings. Having students return to their body portraits in the spring, and consider what’s on the inside rather than the outside, is a treasured tradition of the first grade year. Though they missed seeing these projects come to life in the classroom, first grade teachers Jess Duryea and Lisa Romanelli were excited to keep project-based learning alive remotely, and create an opportunity for students to see their study of Who Am I? come full-circle. Though their body portraits won’t grace the hallways at GUS this spring, we still delight in viewing them virtually through our screens, and seeing the pride and satisfaction of our Who Am I? study hitting home for our students in new ways this year.