2001-2003 • Public Art Installation     Thorndyke Elementary School Ecolab A Community Design-build Project     Click below for   Community Builders Designing Activities Building Activities Operational Activities       Planning Activities August - December 2001     Project Coordinators • Leadership Group       After an initial meeting among the Project Coordinators, the Principal established a Leadership Group to guide the project. This group met bi-monthly to develop a vision for the project and plan how to involve the rest of the school The site designated for the Ecolab is an irregular piece of land, about 100' x 30' just to the south of the school building Five fifth-grade girls were chosen from a pool of applicants to participate in the Leadership Group The Leadership Group toured other public art installations and gardens, such as this one at T.T. Minor Elementary School The fifth-grade girls were especially fascinated by ceramic tile work The group also looked at slides of other installations, including this one of children experiencing Maya Lin's Wave Field . . . and this installation of giant chairs at Stevens Elementary School At the end of the Leadership Group's planning activities, the fifth-grade girls presented a vision for the Ecolab to their peers at an all-school assembly           Project Coordinators • First- through Fifth Grade Children & Teachers   Meanwhile, all fifteen first- through fifth-grade classes investigated a continent, using a curriculum developed by the CEEDS TA   Curriculum     Each grade level studied one continent and a major river on that continent Each class within a grade level studied the continent's art, architecture, or ecology Each class decided what children would be able to SEE, HEAR, and LEARN on that continent     First Grade Experiencing South America and the Amazon River   I see children, family, friends. I can sit and listen. I can have fun Second Grade Experiencing Africa and the Congo River I am a mask. I teach children about scaring others, dancing, playing together, celebrating freedom, mourning, being happy at weddings Third Grade Experiencing Asia and the Yangtze River I see rice paddies, boats going by, the sunset, a beautiful river, the blue sky Fourth Grade Experiencing Europe and the Rhine River I am architecture. I teach the traditions of the Europeans, how you can live in a farmhouse with pets, how to build a house Fifth Grade Experiencing North America and the Mississippi River I hear music playing, fish, dams,rushing water, swimming, splashing, birds, trains, shouting, humming, whistling, fishermen