Fifth Grade Murals

Each year the fifth grade students at Forest Grove Elementary create a collaborative work of art to leave behind in our school's permanent collection. This year, fifth graders completed a huge mural project that is on display in the library and media center! 

Ocean Mural -Mrs. Cramer's Class

Farm Mural - Mrs. Mills' Class

My favorite thing about this project is that it was almost entirely a student driven project.  Here is how we did it:

First, each class voted to select the theme. Next, we looked at other murals that also used the same theme. We critiqued them and talked about things that worked well on each, as well as some compositional pit falls that we wanted to avoid. This critique helped us to come up with some guidelines for our own drawings.

Next, each student created a small scale sketch of what they would like to see on one of the mural panels. Students voted on which students should become leaders for each painting. After spending time sketching independently, the small groups (around 6 kids) got together to talk about their practice sketches. They picked their favorite parts to combine into one final group sketch. Each student drew their own part onto the final paper. (We had another project going during this process).

After the final sketch was completed, it was projected and traced onto a 3 x 6 foot roll of canvas...

We used acrylic paint to paint it in...

After the project was completed, students evaluated each other on attitude, responsibility and teamwork!

Learning Goals: I can...

- Work collaboratively

- Be a responsible teammate with a helpful attitude

- Create a mural

- Create depth using size and placement in space

- Create unity using color and style

- Create variety using color and unique subjects