Our Heroes

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Photos by Patti Donnelly

Each year we begin a journey of connection, reflection, and heartfelt moments. What I love most about teaching Language Arts to 6th graders is learning with them. A close second is how we can experience reading, writing, speaking, technology, and creativity every single day. Our Hero project is all of that and more.

We return from winter break and begin thinking about a hero. It has to be someone we know and value in our life. As we are brainstorming heroic traits and interview questions, the handmade book making process begins with local artist, Peg Gignoux. The first session is a collaborative effort to paint and pattern as much paper as possible.

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Folding a big, white piece of paper is harder than it seems. There are several steps involving some technical spatial skills.

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Piece by piece, we trust that the from layering random colors, a work of art will emerge. There is no prototype to copy or pencils to sketch. There are scissors, glue, and our memory of a meaningful moment with our hero.

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Now we have to decide how to cut the portal to our heroic scene.

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Peg giving her sage advice

The last step is attaching the front and back cover and gluing in the story.

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Once the books were dry and pressed, Peg displayed them at FRANK Gallery in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. As if the experience wasn’t exciting enough at this point, last Wednesday we came together as a community to share our stories at the gallery. Many heroes walked in not knowing they were the one being honored. Emotions were high and smiles broad.

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Sister honoring brother

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Daughter honoring mother

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Son honoring dad

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Friends sharing a forever moment

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Moments of pure joy!

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Thank you Peg! You are our hero!

Hero Blog Post by Frederick

Photo by Mrs.Donnelly

Our class did a book project on our hero. I did my dad. In the beginning, I thought it would take forever to finish, but it was very short and more fun than I would ever think. Mrs. Gignoux was our artist. In the beginning, we had to divide our books in sections and then color the background. We then cut pictures into the shapes we wanted. I did my book in the streets of South Korea. After a few big days of making our books, we finally finished. I felt really good after I finished putting everything together. I was sad that my hero couldn’t come, but I felt really special, and I will never forget this day.

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Hero Project by Alex P.

Photo by Patti Donnelly- Art by me

For this project, I enjoyed how we used the visual arts to support our hero stories. First, we folded a large peice of paper so that we could create a secret room when one popped the book out. We painted the scene in our “secret room” first- where we would place our hero (or something that symbolized him/her). We used textured or print paper to make a collage. Our class layered the ripped or cut paper to depict our vision of our hero. On another side, we continued the setting and cut out a part to reveal the secret scene. Last, we glued covers and flattened it on the booklet. I had lots of fun and I would like to thank the artist who was teaching us, Mrs. Peg Gignoux!