Week of March 16th- 5th Grade Legacy Mural painting

 

5th grade Legacy mural painting week! Every year I feel so fortunate and grateful that I get to facilitate this amazing experience for our fifth graders!

This year we were inspired by Ashley Mary who is a Minnesota native and is a multi-disciplinary artist, muralist, and designer who splits her time between Des Moines, Iowa and Minneapolis. Ashley’s work is defined by a signature whimsical shape and pattern language. Whether she is composing an intimate collage or a large-scale environmental mural, her work maintains a consistent visual through-line that celebrates color, playful patterns, organic form, and the "perfectly imperfect." Each 5th graders looked at several examples of Ashley's work, designed 1-3 shapes on the Chrome canvas website and submitted them on Google classroom. I then selected 13 students' design and invited them back to work in 3 groups to create a final design and selected the below design as the one to be painted across from room 61.

I was on site by 4:15 on a Saturday morning to project and trace the design created by a very talented group of 5th graders and finished tracing the design by 6:30 am. I can’t wait for the 5th graders to paint next week! Every 5th grader will get a hold of paintbrush and contribute to the mural! A meaningful way to leave their positive mark before they move onto middle school!

There was so much excitement this week!  5th grade classes painted in five groups all week! It was wonderful to explain and demonstrate the process and watch our students paint. It was also lovely how the 3rd and 4th grade students watched and complimented them! 

I go over the safety procedures in detail with each group and let students know that SAFETY IS OUR #1 PRIORITY!!

I first show students the final mural design on the wall and explain what colors go where. I print several color copies of the mural design and tape them on the wall. I explain how the paint we are using is exterior house paint and that it won’t fade quickly, chip, flake off.

Here are the mural painting guidelines.

4. Go up and down the ladder without holding the paint. I will hold and hand the paint to you.

5. Only I get to move the ladder. Do not shake the ladder, turn, or engage in sudden movements.

6. Paint a small area at a time and ensure you are covering all the white spots instead of trying to get a LOT done. Stand back and see if you have missed any spots.

7. Dip the brush in paint lightly and paint. Use brush sideways along design edges.

8. Once done, leave the paintbrush in the soapy solution.

9. Wash your hands if you get paint, DO NOT rub on your clothes. These won’t come off from clothes.

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Here are photos to show the day to day progression and the final mural! I am SO proud of our 5th graders!!!

Day 1

Day 4

Day 5