Desert Sunset in Saguaro National Forest by first and second graders

First and second grade students read "Cactus Hotel," by Brenda Guiberson.  They use watercolors to paint a sunset sky, using the wash technique.  After the sky was dry, they painted silhouettes of different types of cacti and desert creatures.  Beautiful! 

Cactus Hotel  

Written by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Illustrated by Megan Lloyd
Henry Holt, 1991

"On a hot, dry day in the desert, a bright-red fruit falls from a tall saguaro cactus.Plop. It splits apart on the sandy floor. Two thousand black seeds glisten in the sunlight."

It is another hot day in the desert. Birds and other animals scurry about looking for food. When they get tired they stop to rest at a giant cactus. It is their hotel in the desert!
Many different animals live in the cactus hotel. It protects them; and they protect it, by eating the pests that could harm the cactus.
The cactus grows larger and larger and will live for about two hundred years. When one animal moves out, another moves in. There is never a vacancy in the cactus hotel.

This story--about a desert, a giant cactus, and the animals who live in it--is one that even the youngest child will understand and enjoy.   

from http://www.brendazguiberson.com/books/cactus.php