Derek Strom knew his class was making a totem pole. But he didn’t know what the finished totem would look like. Neither did Kristen Brenneman, Strom’s second-grade teacher at Sierra Heights. Both were pleased with the results.

“I think it turned out really nice,” Brenneman said at an unveiling ceremony Tuesday. “What I like is the kids actual art work is on it.”

Many of Sierra Heights’ students came out to admire the totem during Tuesday’s celebration. Brenneman’s students dressed in white T-shirts. Spelled across the front: “S.H.S.R.I.G. Sierra Heights Students Are Into Green!” And the back: “Nature Totem Unveiling, Sierra Heights Elementary, June 2008.”

Their totem is planted in a bank just outside the entrance to Sierra Heights. The pole features 24 squares depicting nature scenes — one by each of Brenneman’s 21 second graders, plus three others: one by Brenneman, one by principal Nanci Davis and one by counselor Tori Gadala and PTA co-president and parent Susan Robinson.

Nature scenes including the sun, an eagle, a deer, a river flowing from mountains, snow-covered mountains,a raccoon, bear paws and a ladybug.

The pole looks carved, but it’s not. The three-dimensional effect comes from the many layers of paper of each student’s cut-paper collage.

Strom made a salamander.

“I thought it looked cool and I thought I could do it,” he says.

It took Strom and his classmates about a week to draw their pictures and cut out the paper. When finished, artist Dan Cautrell took the collages to his Duvall studio. There he glued the collages to blocks of wood, coated them with a series of stains and mounted them to the timber pole.

“I gave them my personal guarantee from the first day that it would turn out great,” Cautrell said.

Cautrell has helped other groups construct similar totems. Brenneman enlisted his help after she saw the totems he helped Duvall students create for a Snoqualmie Valley trail project.

Sierra Heights’ totem cost $1200. Most of that ($800) was paid for by a Doug Kyes Visual Art Grant, sponsored by the Qwest Foundation, Renton River Days board members and local artist Doug Kyes. Brenneman’s class raised the remaining $400 with a Sees Candy fundraiser.

The project was a collaborative effort.

“Kristen did her part to get the funding, I did my part, the kids did their part,” Cautrell says.

By creating her own square — featuring a blue heron — Brenneman did more than her part.

“It’s actually difficult,” she said of the project. “They did really well,” she added, pointing to a square depicting a salmon jumping up a fish ladder. “For second graders, to be able to do that is amazing.”

“They all amaze me,” Kyes added. He was pleased with how Brenneman spent his grant money. “I think this is wonderful, this is what I’m after.”

Brenneman likes how the totem got art into Sierra Heights. She likes the nature aspect.

“It helps kids enjoy the environment and protect the environment,” she said.

Her class this year is all about “green.” In addition to the totem, her students have been busy helping create an outdoor classroom from two acres in the school’s southeast corner. Grants have funded clean-ups and plantings. Next up is stepping stones and benches. Brenneman intends the classroom to be used by any Sierra Heights students or community members.

Does Brenneman have other projects, green or otherwise, in the works?

“I do,” she says. “But I haven’t thought of them yet.”