So... I have received some feedback regarding our mural activity, some good, some not so good. The general frustration has been that they aren't turning out to look very good. Here are some suggestions for a better end product that have worked for all grades.
1. Post a grid in the classroom that looks like the back of your poster before it was cut up. Fill in the grid with the artist's names as they are assigned a square.
2. Have the artists sketch with pencil the design they see on their poster square and decide which colors they are going to use to create a match.
3. Using the filled in grid have the artists compare their square to those that surround it. For younger kids you will need to facilitate this, the older kids can move around and compare. One teacher had her class lay out all their sketched squares on a table in the correct order then chose a few artists who had shown previous attention to detail in their work to look at the layout and call students up to the desk to correct and realign so that the end result would match up. She had a quick alternate activity for kids to be working on during this time at their desks.
4. Have the artists fill in their art with color and compare again.
Hope this helps. I have left a sample from Ms. Pyle's class at the art desk for you to look at.
Angie
