Welcome to the "Save Our Seas" Exhibit Page!

For the full exhibit experience, please press play to listen to the soundtrack while viewing this exhibit page. The music was created for this exhibit in GarageBand by the 7th grade general music class.

This year, Ursuline girls across elementary grade levels studied humans' impact on the oceans through science, art, technology, and music. In response to the growing environmental issues caused by plastic pollution, students collected plastic waste to repurpose into meaningful artwork and digital media.
Scroll down to check out their culminating cross-curricular projects!

7th Grade

This year, 7th Grade Ursuline girls completed a cross-curricular unit with art, technology, and music about the impact of human pollution in our oceans. They began with a plastic pollution education class at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. While at the aquarium, students did their own digital photography using their iPads to capture the beauty of the sea creatures. Back at Ursuline, they learned how to edit and superimpose pictures of plastic waste onto their photos in technology class. Then, they created GIF using their photography and an ocean pollution fact. To create a visual-auditory experience like those in art installations around the world, the girls composed their own ambient music to set the tone for their exhibit. The music you hear on this page was created by students in 7th grade general music using GarageBand loops. Mrs. Pastorek, Mrs. Rooney, and Ms. Benoit are extremely proud on the powerful outcome of the girls' hard work!

Using microscopes, the girls were able to look at different water samples from Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River, and even our New Orlean's tap water. It really put into perspective how pollution is affecting our water. They were even able to see micro-plastics in our local tap water!

Above are the pollution awareness GIFS that the 7th graders made by using their photography with superimposed plastic pieces along with an eye-opening ocean pollution fact. These were made by the students on make on Keynote in technology class. It really puts things in perspective on what is truly going on in our oceans.

7th Graders had multiple weeks of photography exercises in art and technology class before taking their field trip to the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas where they used iPad photography to capture their stunning images. Once we returned to school, the girls learned about to use "instant alpha" to superimpose plastic images on their photography. Then, the girls used Keynote to animate their photography as well as research and insert a fact on ocean pollution. The girls turned them into awareness GIFS. This purpose of this project was to raise awareness of what is going on in our oceans today and to show how each and every person can help with the ocean pollution pandemic.

Above are the superimposed photos done by the 7th graders.

The 7th graders completed a unit in science class with Ms. Williamson, where they had to conduct studies and experiment with how different types of pollutions affect plant life in our waters. The girls were broken into different groups to test different types of pollution such as: aluminum packaging, styrofoam, plastic, oil, acrylic paint, weed killer, etc.

6th Grade

The purpose of this project was to reflect on each other's uniqueness and how each and every one of us can make a difference in making the world a better place. There might be small, large, and all sorts of fish in the sea, however they are all unique and serve a purpose in the vast universe. In art class with Meghann Rooney, the 6th grade students created fish using all recycled materials. Once the fish were completed, the students learned all about stop motion animation in technology class, with Emily Pastorek and completed stop motion animation videos of their fish "swimming" in the sea. In general music class with Lauren Benoit, the 6th graders learned how to play Disney's The Little Mermaid edition, "Under the Sea" on xylophones. This recording has been used as the background music to complete their stop motion videos.

"A Small Fish Can Still Make a Big Difference" Stop Motion Video

6th Grade students working on the "Save Our Seas" banner. This work of art was made by using cut of pieces of recycled plastics.

Below are the 6th grader's fish that were created by using all recycled materials.

5th Grade

In art class, the 5th grade students made sea creatures out of recycled materials. Next, they water-colored a beautiful ocean scene background. In technology class, the girls took a photo of their water-colored art piece to use as the background of the Under the Sea animation. The animation process of designing began on Keynote. They learned how to add move waves, ocean bottoms, coral, bubbles, etc. to give the effect that the picture was moving. These animations were saved as movies to their iPads. Next, the girls learned how to use a green screen in an unusual way! The girls use stools under the green screen so that they could lay down on top of them to act as if they were "swimming". During their video shoot, they were "swimming" in the sea to rescue their sea creature from the harmful, plastic pollution. As you can see from the time lapse videos below, it was quite the production and many hands were needed for backstage jobs and support. Both the animation and green screen video were layered in iMovie to create their final masterpieces! Please watch the video below to see their creativity and hard work that they put throughout the project! We had a lot of fun with this project!

"Under Our Sea" Green Screen Video

Time lapse videos taken by the 5th grade students to capture our production site.

Below are photos of the 5th grade's sea creatures made out of recycled materials.

4th Grade

While in science class, the girls learned about the brain and how we receive information. In technology class, we created a game on Tynker in order to test the brain's reaction time. The girls wanted to make it ocean-themed to go along with the art show. The idea of the game was to tap the ocean creature that was moving around the screen as many times as you can within thirty seconds to see how fast your brain works. Some sped up their ocean creatures to make their game more difficult. The girls did a great job with this project!

A graphic design image created by 4th grader, Sophie using Adobe Draw.

3rd Grade

3rd grade artists were in the process of creating their recycled materials fish. They hand drew each individual scale on paper and glued them to their fish. The head, eyes, fins, and tails where to be constructed with plastic materials.

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