Young Readers Take On An Angelic Project

By Tanjua Damon

E.L. Konigsburg’s 1968 Newbery Award winning book From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler inspired fourth graders in Miss Siladi and Mrs Aschauers’s classes at Head O’ Meadow to create special angels on their own.

After reading the novel and watching the movie, the students were put into groups of two or three students. Each group had a student from the two classes. The groups had to design and construct an angel with a mason’s mark to display in the Head O’ Meadow art gallery (the main lobby of the school).

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is about a sister and brother, Claudia and Jamie, who run away. They take shelter in the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they investigate whether or not Michelangelo designed the marble angel at the museum.

Michelangelo’s work was signed with a mason’s mark. His was three interlocking rings with an M in the middle. The students also created their own mason’s marks.

The two classes constructed 22 angels that they designed, collected materials for, and assembled, according to Mrs Aschauer. The students kept each piece of work as an artist would.

All artists face challenges and this project was no different for these young artists. Working in groups and trying to agree on design and materials were challenges many of the students faced.

Timmy Lacouture, Patrick Pennarola, and Christopher Marks found that agreeing on a design and then constructing it was more difficult than they thought.

“We decided from our designs,” Christopher said. “But it didn’t turn out like we wanted it to.”

Timmy felt painting was challenging because of one of their materials, foam, required multiple coats of paint.

The feeling of accomplishment was worth all the hard work for Patrick.

“We can do these kinds of things,” Patrick said. “We can make our own art. We don’t have to copy other people’s.”

Laura Frattaroli used things from the book to design an angel. She found that the descriptions in the award-winning book helped her be creative.

“We drew sketches that looked exactly like this,” Laura said. “Because of the book we read. It explained a lot about the angel – how she looked, how tall, and behavior.”

The mason mark left on Laura and Nicole Bounty’s angel was a moon with stars.

Some students realized their designs were a bit harder to construct with materials than to draw on paper.

“The wings, we couldn’t really get them on because they are heavy,” Kaila Harrington said.

Rachel Taback, Kaila’s partner, realized the importance of working together in order to get the task done.

“Teamwork helps,” Rachel said. “I didn’t realize the effects of it.”

Once the drawings were finished and it was time to put the work together, other students realized that their designs were not what their final product turned out to be.

“We came out with something else, but we couldn’t make it,” Aaron Caldwell said. “We came out with a robe, but it came out as blubber.”

The students also compared the book to the movie. It was evident that there were differences between the two, such as how the angel appeared.

Now that the angels are complete, the students have come up with a self-evaluation sheet that they will use to review themselves along with their teachers’ evaluations.

The two classes definitely have plenty of angels watching over them! The angel masterpieces will be on display in the main lobby at Head O’ Meadow School.