Our final project for the 4th and 5th grades was to create a game mural on the school recess yard. At first we did a labyrinth walk to spark the conversation of why games are important. The labyrinth was a metaphor for life and growing (which tied in with science content around life cycles)
To prepare for the mural we decided on a location and measured and calculated the area in order to determine the amount of paint needed for the design.
We spent a day playing and analyzing different boardgames to help brainstorm a design. Students were asked to come up with a game design of their own and include some form of labyrinth and a four square court. After reviewing and compiling the students' designs, I brought 4 possible versions for the students to vote on. The one above received the most votes.
Somehow between rainy days in May and super hot days in June, we managed to get the mural painted. I brought 6-8 students out for about 15 minutes at a time so all the 4th and 5th graders had a chance to do something on the mural. We measured and marked out the blocks of color to be painted around the perimeter.
The classes all worked on creating flower and leaf stencils inspired by the drawings made by the 2nd and 4th graders' trips to the John Heinz Nature Refuge. The flowers were stenciled in black around the perimeter, and the leaves were stenciled in green to mark out the labyrinth.
At one side, a hopping game was created in the form of a lily pond, complete with frogs at either end and the life cycle of a frog marked out across it.
The foursquare court in the center contained symbols for the four seasons. The water and vine labyrinth has a red snake hiding in it. The imagery throughout represents habitats, life cycles, seasons, and change.
The mural creates a bright spot in the middle of a vast concrete courtyard, and creates new possibilities for play during recess. The games laid out in the mural are open-ended and allow students to create their own rules for playing on it, encouraging fairness and creativity.
On the last day we tried (between rainstorms) to go out and try playing on the mural. Four square was a big hit!
Back in class, we spent some time writing about favorite projects through the year. Painting the mural was a highlight of the year for many students. Many students requested that next year we do some work in clay.
For the fourth grade, my favorite project was at the beginning of the year as we went from meandering water to eroding landforms to coordinate treasure maps. Fourth grade was wonderful this year- students were well-behaved and eager to participate. They fared well with both individual and collaborative projects, and they did some wonderful reflective writing throughout the year. They do better with concrete/realistic type artwork rather than abstraction. I feel like we could do similar things next year.
For the fifth grade my favorite project was our drawing machine process. I loved seeing the kids work through the design process and collaborate. However, most of our projects in 5th grade were too drawn out, and the classes were so large, they were a little hard to manage efficiently. We also had scheduling troubles do to Mondays and end-of-the year events. I think we should start earlier in September to move through our 30 sessions effectively. I'd like to do more short projects with 5th grade. Their attention is so easily distracted by the social side of being 10-11 years old, that they might work more effectively with something more fast-paced and energetic.
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