Our School Friends Mural
Oak Class, November 2023
The school friends’ mural began as a simple activity set up during free play time. The Oak children were invited to the art center to draw a friend in the school that is not in the Oak class to be used to create a mural.
Many of the Oak children chose to draw their siblings or friends from aftercare. The children talked while drawing and came up with a list of friends that they needed to include. One child commented, “We have to do all the friends in aftercare.” So, the children in aftercare began creating a list of friends to draw. They quickly came up with the list of friends in the big kids’ aftercare program. They decided that they also needed to do the little kids aftercare program. Jane and Millie immediately knew some of the little kids’ names, but not all of them. It was decided that Mrs. Mahern would find a list of aftercare children. We then messaged Ms. Krysti for some photos of the younger children in aftercare.
While working on the friends in aftercare, Renn said, “We have to do the middle school buddies. They are our buddies, that means they are our friends.” This led to the children drawing many of the children in middle school. As the children continued to work drawing many people, they would think of more friends that should be included in the mural. At this point, a couple hours into the process, Mrs. Mahern reached out to Mrs. Christina for a list of students in the school.
While drawing friends, Renn shared that she was drawing the friends in her brother Magnus’s class. Leon said, “I think Ari needs to do his brother David’s friends.” Ari was not at school, so Jane, Renn, and Leon decided they would direct him on his assignment tomorrow morning.
The children continued to work drawing friends. Children would come and go from the art center, while some stayed and kept drawing. Mrs. Mahern began stacking and organizing the drawings. Millie looked at the stack and said, “This is a lot of people.” Jane commented, “Yeah! We might have to do the whole school ‘cause we don’t want anyone to be sad!” Millie added, “But, we don’t even know the whole school.” Jane replied, “Not yet, but when we meet them, they will be our friends.” Renn commented, “Yeah! When they meet us, they will like us and we will be friends.” Leon explained, “They are kind of our friends, right? Because we are a school family and our family is our friends. We care about everyone in our family.” Millie agreed, “That’s true Leon!”
The children drew and drew and drew. Mrs. Mahern began marking the names of children that had been drawn on a list. Everyone in the Oak class contributed to the project. Some children did a few pictures and others never stopped drawing. It was discovered that Hillel and Rochel were an excellent resource for information on students in the school. They could name and explain details about different students, so their friends would know what to draw. They described the height, hairstyle, and hobbies of the children.
At the end of day one, the class had drawn well over half of the school. It was agreed that they would continue their drawing in the morning. There was also a discussion about if teachers should be added. The children agreed that they love the teachers, but doing the teachers would be “too tiring’!
The children arrived at school on day two ready to continue on the school friends’ project. Ari was given his assignment by his peers and he got busy drawing a lot of people. The children continued down the list drawing the students in the school. It was getting more challenging because we were getting to the children in the school that the Oak kids were not as familiar with. Mrs. Mahern began showing photographs of the students from blogs and school social media posts. This helped, but there were still some that we did not know. The children began asking other teachers to describe the student to them. Ms. Michaela and Mrs. Levin helped a lot with this part.
We were down to only about twenty children in the school left to draw but realized we had not done our own class. It was decided that we should meet as a whole group and each Oak child would draw their own self-portrait. Chai shared, “This is easy! We know how to make ourselves.”
After drawing ourselves, it was decided that a little break was deserved. We decided to relax and finish up after lunch and a visit to the Big Muscle Room.
Following the break from drawing, the children were refreshed and excited to finish the project. The children gathered around the table and drew some more friends. The class was down to one last student to draw, but there was a big problem, no one could remember who this person was. We knew their name and grade, but that was all. It was decided that Renn would go ask Ms. Diana for some help. Renn visited Ms. Diana and the mystery was solved because Ms. Diana had a photo and a video of this student. Renn returned to the classroom, shared the information and the final friend was complete.
It was a very busy two days working on this project. The focus and commitment of a group of the Oak children was incredible. They are proud of their work and excited to display it for their school friends and family to view. As Leon shared, “I think everyone is going to love it. I think it will make people happy!’
Indiana Learning Foundations
SE4.1: Demonstrate relationship skills
APL1.1: Demonstrate initiative and self-direction
APL3.1: Demonstrate development of sustained attention and persistence
APL4.1: Demonstrate development of social interactions during play
SS5.1: Demonstrate awareness of citizenship
CA3.2: Demonstrate creative expression through visual art production
SE1.2: Demonstrate identification and expression of emotions
SE1.1: Demonstrate self awareness and confidence
ELA1.3: Demonstrate ability to engage in conversations
ELA3.1: Demonstrate mechanics of writing
SS1.1: Demonstrate development of self
No comments:
Post a Comment