Patchogue-Medford teachers were recently teaching Grade 5 students the mathematical concept of parts of a whole. The children were learning that fractions, decimals and percentages are all parts of a whole. To help reinforce these ideas, the educators invited visual artist Lucienne Pereira to guide the students in the creation of a math-inspired mural.
Ms. Pereira introduced the project by explaining that a mural is one big painting. "The students learned about the artist Sol LeWitt, who used math in his artwork and also painted large murals," Ms. Pereira noted. For their mural project, the students were asked to work on small paintings that would become part of a large mural-parts of the whole. "The teachers were very helpful in the mural's composition," she added. "I showed them the project sketch and got their feedback."
The smaller paintings (above and below) illustrated different example of parts of a whole.
The individual paintings were assembled to create one large mural. "The mural now hangs in the school gym, where all students can see it," said Ms. Pereira (far left).
