After hearing Beth Ferry’s autumn-themed “The Scarecrow,” Miller Avenue second graders discussed what scarecrows are used for, what they are made of, what they look like and more with art teacher Daria Browne.

“We talked about where scarecrows could be and what types of things, people or animals might be around them,” Browne said, before the students embarked on a watercolor project with a scarecrow as the centerpiece of their creations. First grade artists also gained a better understanding of color-related concepts through a watercolor project. The students looked at paintings of apples by artists such as Matisse and Cezanne.

“We looked at some fake fruit and observed the mixture of colors in each apple and discussed the size and shape of them and how all apples are slightly different,” Browne said. They also talked about still-life paintings and discussed why many artists painted apples, exploring lighting and how light can cast shadows on one side of an object.