California History + San Francisco Fourth-graders = Academy Artists
The California Academy of Sciences Celebrates 150 years with elementary school artists
Children's exhibit on display October 4 through November 9, 2003

(San Francisco) September 9, 2003 - Seventeen San Francisco fourth grade classrooms have lent the Academy their artwork for display at the California Academy of Sciences in honor of the Academy's 150th Anniversary. Each classroom developed a scene from a decade between the years 1850 and 2000, the last 150 years in decades on large posters for the Academy to display the month of October through early November.

The classrooms were assigned a decade to interpret from California, San Francisco and Academy history. Fourth grade classrooms were chosen because at this grade-level many students, in California schools, study California history. The rich history of these three topics gave the students great choice. One example of the interplay between California and the Academy's histories is that Sarah Plummer Lemmon, was an Academy botanist who successfully advocated having Eschscholzia californica better known as the California poppy designated as the state flower. Another, probably most recognizable to California fourth-graders, the Academy's California Hall houses the bear "Monarch" who was the last California grizzly and the model for the California State Flag. Students used these and myriads of other topics to depict in their pieces.

The artwork will be open for the public to view at the Academy in Wattis Hall of Human Cultures Saturday, October 4, through Sunday, November 9, 2003.

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