Re: MURALS

Posted by Dolores Russo on 1/08/08

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On 10/23/07, Monica wrote:
> Hey!
> I would love some pictures or explanations of a mural
> activity conducted in a classroom.
> Thanks!

Murals -
1. you must be REALLY organized for this. It involves lots of
kids working at the same time on different parts of the mural.
2. Establish a theme: animals for instance. This is a science
integrated project I am suggesting - animal habitats.
3. LONG roll of paper - the brown paper is fine.
4. tape it on the wall if you can, or put it on the floor.
5. Have lots of markers available.
6. Before letting groups draw on the mural, discuss with class
what they will be doing. (I could turn this into a well
written lesson plan, but I"m doing this off the top of my head
and have done this lesson a gazillion times with first graders.)
7. Usually I have one child draw a line all the way across the
sheet with brown - maybe ending in the middle? and then the
rest of it with a blue marker. You could do this yourself but
the kids love making this looooooong line. The brown-earth,
the blue-water
8. With a pencil I would partition the sheet for 10 students -
maybe 1-2 feet in width. Maybe even number them so there is
no mistake as to who goes where.
9. Then as part of your demo/motivation, after the lines are
drawn for the earth and water - elicit answers as to what
animal lives where - birds fly in the sky, etc. I would
integrate all sorts of things with this lesson - descriptions
of different kinds of birds, long beaks (why?), short beaks
-why, etc.
10. Next have students go in pairs to draw on their "spot"
(which was numbered or lettered or however you wish to do this
part) They are allowed to draw their animals in the habitats
for 10 mins. and then the next group comes up.

You could have the whole class working at the same time -
maybe do two murals if you have the space, or use the gym or
the stage - a new location for "school" is always fun...
The possibilities are endless for this activity. I've also
had students draw at their desks, then cut out the animal and
glue it to the mural when they were done.
You could call this an art project but as the art teacher, I
would call it using art materials unless you are teaching some
art concept like line, color, shape, texture...The art teacher
will be thrilled that you included the art curriculum, just as
you get thrilled when the art teacher includes math in the art
lesson too.
Have fun! --- hang the mural so the principal and incoming
visitors to the school can see it. Always show off your art
stuff! And don't forget to put the names of the kids on
it...and yours too!
Dolores Russo
Art teacher, 25 years, retired and missing the kids!

Posts on this thread, including this one

• MURALS, 10/23/07, by Monica.
• Re: MURALS, 1/08/08, by Dolores Russo.
• Re: MURALS, 3/29/08, by Anne.