Immigrating to America Mural

As a culmination of the drawing unit, students tried their hand at a large-scale collaborative mural. Everyone participated by including their own full-body portrait. Students also worked together to create the beautiful backdrop of their mural: Ellis Island. Students were responsible for painting the ocean, waves, sky, and clouds. I found this to be a great opportunity for the students to share a visual story of their interviewee, while also participating in a large collaborative project that the entire grade can be very proud of! Well done, fourth grade!

"Immigrating to America" Final Mural

Full-body Portraits of Immigrant Interviewees (tie-in to social studies curriculum)

For the fourth grade’s final drawing of a person in proportion, I asked students and families to send me a full-body photograph of the person they chose to interview for their immigration project in social studies (thank you, families!). First, students drew their person in proportion by using basic shapes. Then, students learned how to draw clothing on a three-dimensional form. They used their observational drawing skills to closely capture the clothing their interviewee was wearing the day of the photograph. Because a lot of the clothing was black or white, I encouraged students to exercise their own artistic license when it came to coloring in the clothing. Lastly, students were responsible for carefully cutting their person out in preparation for the collaborative mural. The results are really fantastic! Please enjoy the few examples below.