Beginning

The plywood has arrived, along with primer, paint, and brushes.  Each group of tables has a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood, and the students were assigned the job of painting on primer.  The following day, we measured the sand at the bottom of the ocean (2" of sand), measured sky and hills, and made sure each panel would line up with the one next to it.  Lots of measuring!  We discussed why this was so important, in fact crucial!

Students then chose whether they wanted to work on the healthy or unhealthy reef.  We painted the skies a pale blue, with clouds and lightning on the unhealthy side.  (Because dead reefs contribute to warmer oceans, which will eventually stop circulating, which will add to global warming and climate change, which is causing more and larger storms.)

The sand was painted pale beige.  The ocean was painted turquoise.

And the hills were painted in a dappled yellow-and-green mix to look like trees (healthy side) or a dappled brown and grey mix, to show the denuded and unhealthy hills.

I've explained that we always paint the background first, so that our houses, animals, trucks, fish, etc. can all look as if they are IN the background scenery, not SURROUNDED by the scenery.

This is looking good.