Making our Mural and other Collaborative Pieces

Our mural is always my favorite part of the Night of the Arts!  I love that it makes a big impact and that so many students take part in it.

Third graders worked together to create the background.  I drew the design in pencil and they filled it in.  I pulled small groups to work on parts of the mural, and when they were done with their area, they would go work on a mural worksheet I created.  By the end, some classes were able to all be working on the mural together.  Those are the best moments!  But I also had one class that was not able to participate because of behavior and they worked on an alternative individual painting.  

Kindergarten created their cute little tigers a few weeks earlier.  I hot glued them to the mural when they were finished.  I learned in previous years that tape just doesn't cut it!   When the show is over, all of the tigers were still attached, so I pulled them off and the background was thrown away.  

This year, students also created giant leaf paintings and individual leaves to use as decoration for the Night of the Arts.  The large paintings were used to cover tables and to hang with artworks.  The smaller leaves filled in tables and were used on the cards with the teachers' names.  Third, fourth, and fifth made the large paintings by painting only leaf shapes (Rule #1), using only three colors and class (Rule #2), and working responsibly (Rule #3).  They were able to walk around and change colors when they choose. 

I had a few second grade classes make 12x18 painted papers with green and third grade added the lines with premixed colors to the individual leaves.  These were then laminated and used in the show.  Students did not get to keep them since multiple students worked on each leaf.  I saved them and may use them as classroom decorations in the future.