Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Collaborative Mural

Each year the 4th grade students perform a Martin Luther King Jr. program for the entire school. They sing songs, speak poetry, and recite spoken word about our nation's civil rights history and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is a really powerful performance that moves me to tears.

Last year, I had my 4th grade students create a painted paper mural to display during their performance. But not just a single class before. They were inspired by Faith Ringgold's "Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky".  The mural received a very positive response from the kids, the staff, and the parents. I decided to do something similar this year.

I began by introducing my students to Faith Ringgold's book, "My Dream of Martin Luther King".

We closely examined the artwork and the students created sketches inspired by the book's illustrations. I also shared a short clip of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech.

The next class, we worked together in choosing from their sketches and the book's illustrations in creating the composition for the painted mural. We worked in small teams to create the various sections of the mural. The kids were really excited to create!

We decided to have teams for:
Martin Luther King Jr.
The Dream Speech crowd
and Text quote
another class created doves for peace signs

Each small team was responsible for these sections of the mural. I provided printed resources and laid out their supplies. It was amazing how they set out to accomplish these goals. Each student was engaged in their role and we achieved the completed mural in 2, 45 minute classes.

Upon reflection, I believe my students were engaging in most of these 21st Century skills. 



I will continue to find ways for my students to hone these skills and create authentic art that is meaningful to them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monochromatic Self Portraits Mural

It is finally up, our school-wide self portrait installation is in our school hallway. I shared the processes of creating theses beauties in my last post school-wide-self-portraits.

The rainbow of monochromatic color portraits isn't a new idea. You can see these all over Pinterest or a perform a Google search. I decided that I had to try it out with my students.

With the help of 2 wonderful parent volunteers, this portrait mural was assembled and installed in our central hallway next to the library.

I've love watching my students stop and search for their self portrait. I also look forward to October conferences when they can show their parents.

Overall, I'd say this collaboration was as success and the kids really took pride in their contribution.

Winter Wonderland Collaborative Mural

Wonderland mural assembled

As winter break comes to a close I am excited to get back into the art room with the North Star students. Just before break we created a giant winter mural for the hallway outside the art room. The glue and paint was still drying as I hung it in the last minutes before we all left for a much needed holiday. I'm looking forward to seeing the reactions of the school when they come back tomorrow and see their hard work hung in all its wintery glory.

Ready for viewing in the hallway

I must give credit to phenomenal art educator Cassie Stephens, with her version of this mural. I took inspiration from what her students created and felt my classes could produce something similar.

Pieced together the patterned paper

I tasked Kindergarten classes with painting the snowflake sky, Ms. Davis' class with painting the patterned hills and chalk clouds, Ms. Homestead's 4th grade with painting the evergreen trees,  Ms. Attaway's class with producing the houses (big and small/near and far), and Ms. Jump's class plus a couple of my 4th grade helpers with assembly.

Kindergarten painted snowflakes and practiced their brushwork.

4th grade students painted the evergreen trees with 2 values of green.

2nd grade constructed a big and small house for the mural. The made 2 different sizes to show distance with scale.

I'm so proud of their hard work. They were all delighted to be a part of it's creation, I feel like this type of collaborative work gives the students a sense of accomplishment as well as stronger sense of community.

I look forward to more art collaborations! Thanks for stopping by!