Arts integration at the Morse School in Cambridge
During the spring, K-8 students at the Morse school spent library class researching the Charles River. Each grade took on a different topic; Kindergarten learned about the trees and leaves of the river, First graders studied mammals that live along the river, and other grades learned about bridges, boats, birds and architecture. Each grade brought their learning to the art room, where they drew pictures of what they had studied.
Using the children’s drawings as inspiration, the Beautiful Stuff Project designed one 24”x 32” page of a storywalk about each topic. During Halloween week in art class, every student in grades K-5 helped to turn the drawings into mosaics. They were well-prepared! They had made paper mosaics, learned about professional mosaic artists, designed pixel drawings, and played with tiles in the weeks leading up to the project.
On Thursday of the week of tiling, we invited families and school staff to help with the project. For hours we had a steady stream of volunteers taking a few minutes out of their day to piece together the images.
As a special way to represent the school community, students were invited to bring in a coin from a country where their family is from or a country that their family had visited. By the end of the week we had a long list of countries represented, and we had found special spots for many of the coins on the pages of the Storywalk. The rest will be used in the border of the Storywalk’s dedication panel.
By the end of the week we had the mosaics complete! The next step will be to flip and cement them onto frost-proof backer boards, and then grout them to get them ready to be installed and celebrated in the spring.
This project is a wonderful example of arts integration and collaboration—bringing together classroom learning, the art studio, and the wider community. It shows how creative partnerships between schools and community organizationscan spark connection, learning, and pride across ages.
If your school is interested in exploring a similar art integration project, we’d love to connect! Reach out to The Beautiful Stuff Project to learn more about how we can bring creative, community-based art making to your school.
