Finished!

We have been working on this project for several months and now it is finished and on the wall! Here are some of the pictures of the final project "The Tree of Learning"

Putting up the Tile Wall!

My husband Jeff had to help me attach the tiles to the wall and construct the frame. It took us about 4 hours of work to get it on the wall! Thank you Jeff!

Making the Border Tiles

7th grade students create a 2x2 tile and then paint the tile with a learning symbol of their choice.  They also created one tile with a simple shape.  The tiles were then painted with underglaze watercolors.  When they are dry Mrs. Soule will glaze them with a clear glaze and fire them.  

Mr. Hutchison and Mrs. Martin Create their tiles

Our Principal, Mr. Hutchison gets in on the creativity by creating his own tile #26.  His clay tile teachers were Jessica and Chaney.  

Mckenzie and Jennifer give excellent instructions in creating a tile to Mrs. Martin.  No hesitation on her part!  She jumps right in to create tile #27. She chose the Treble Clef as her symbol of learning.

 "The key to being above average or "middle C" is to continuously seek knowledge."

CSI

Dane chose Fingerprints for his learning symbol.

"My 7th period class is CSI Forensics with Mr. Bryan Downing.  I drew a magnifying glass and fingerprints." Dane

Why I chose the symbol in the student's words!

Here's what the students are saying.....

"I learned the Pythagarean theorem from Mrs. Stokes who helped me understand Geometry better." David

"I chose TEARS OF A TIGER because we read this in reading, Mrs. Bowling read it to us.  It makes you really think about stuff."  Austin

"I chose TEARS OF A TIGER because it is an interesting book and tells about an accident and a boy comitting suicide."  Jesse

"I chose the Constitution.  I really enjoy my Social Studies class with Mrs. Johnson who explains very good." Jenika 

"I chose the plant cell because I learned from Mrs. Pemberton in Science class." Keshara

"I chose the food chain because I learned all about the food chain from my teacher Mr. Downing." Rylan

"I chose Music because music is a part of everybody's life today"

Rhiannon

"Music because without Ms. Lanham I wouldn't know any of the basic music notes, etc.  I also loved The Sound of Music movie. Outside of school music is a big part of my life."  Haley

Painting the Tiles

This is a photo of the painted tiles and gives you an idea of how the wall will look.  It is exciting to see the pieces match up!  Sometimes it is not a perfect match but that's OK....creative!  We are using a one fire method introduced to me by "The Clay Lady" (Danielle  McDaniel ) of Mid-South Ceremics in Nashville.  After the students create their tile we paint the tile with an underglaze and when they have dried for about 1-2 weeks I will dip them in a clear glaze and fire them.