Tiny Mouse Saves The Castle

Waddell Students Collaborate On Art Project

Kindergarten, first and second grade students at Waddell Elementary practiced creativity and collaboration through a recent “castle” art project.

“The castle was a project that students in kindergarten, first, and second grades worked on collaboratively,” explained Hannah Straub, art teacher at Waddell. “We began the project by reading the wonderful book, ‘Boxitects,’ by Kim Smith.”

Waddell students were then invited to create a castle, like the book’s main character.

In working on this project, Straub said, collaboration was foregrounded.

“The students at Waddell began with lessons on how to work together to create an art installation that would truly be reflective of a group effort,” she said.

“The children discussed what collaboration looks like, sounds like, and feels like. We practiced how to share ideas, use encouraging language, and how to help one another meaningfully.”

Students were gathered into teams, each assigned a piece of the project.

“They worked in teams on sections, each group designing unique features. The castle evolved to include characters that the children created out of recycled materials, like a dragon, a knight, a mouse, a princess, a king, a mermaid, etc.,” said Straub.

Once they had constructed the castle, the students wrote and acted out a story to go with it.

“The children worked together to write a fantastic story that goes with the castle. The children worked in teams to brainstorm the story elements,” said Straub.

They wrote an original, creative story where a tiny mouse is the hero that defeats the dragon and saves the castle. The children used puppets to act out and retell the story,” she said.

“It was a meaningful project, where my students learned the importance of collaboration and teamwork.”