The focus of our collage is on our town's beginnings and continued growth, which is the railroad and education. These are the main elements of our collage. The railroad track not only runs through the composition but also gives a horizon line which symbolizes our curving but also flat landscape. The three buildings, which we have chosen to represent education, each are significant to us in Edmond. On the left is the first public schoolhouse in Oklahoma Territory. The middle building is our school which has an interesting past and is presently educating our future leaders. On the right is Old North Tower, a landmark of the first public college in Oklahoma Territory. Its clock gives us a reminder of the passing of time.

When our project was first presented to the class, the students had just learned important facts of our town's history as part of their "Core Knowledge" curriculum. They were also learning about the principals of design and elements of art as part of their "Art Smart" curriculum. The collage would be the perfect opportunity to apply both. During "Art Smart", we discussed the upcoming collage and viewed the past winning collages from the website. We asked the class for suggestions of subjects and the students took turns giving ideas.

Mrs. Weltzheimer drew 3 of the buildings that were suggested onto foam board and poster board and cut them out. We also found some toy train track to include the significance of the railroad in the formation of our town. While discussing the "principals of design", the class worked with Mrs. Vance and Mrs. Weltzheimer to experiment with different ways to place the buildings and track. The class decided on the final placement by a vote.

During another session, several of the students wrote some of the facts that they learned about Edmond onto black construction paper to look as if they were written on a chalkboard. We also collected newspaper articles that were written recently about our growth being linked to education, and Mrs. Vance had several articles written about historic people in Edmond. Several of the students during this session began cutting out some of the newspaper articles. Finally, during this session, 4 of the students applied glue and attached the large shapes made of foam board. We ended with taking each of the student's photos for the collage as they will represent the future of our town.

After collecting photos of life in Edmond, we had a session of cutting them out. Mrs. Eldridge also brought a lot of good images and helped assist the students with the cutting session. We also found more historical images of our town thanks to the Edmond Historical Society. After the images were cut, we worked with the students in pairs and let them arrange the images on defined sections of the collage, attaching the images with tape. Throughout the month of February we worked 2 days a week for 35 minutes each time. Since we are studying the elements of art, we used the differences of color and value to help to define the shapes. After the small images were down and we were satisfied with where they were, we started gluing during our work sessions.

In March, using the "elements of art", color and texture, we spent one session applying transparent tissue to parts of the collage to help further define the buildings and give the illusion of a landscape. During the first part of March we continued to meet two times a week and Mrs. Weltzheimer and Mrs. Eldridge worked with the students to finish gluing down the architectural features to the collage such as the clock face, which has a photo of Mrs. Vance dressed as a 19th century teacher, and the school name. We also used "line" to emphasize the repeating shapes of the roof tops and entrance to the school. Finally, under Mrs. Vance's direction, the class came up with names for the collage and decided by a vote, "Edmond's Past, Present and Future".

In the end, the students not only learned a lot about our town and using art fundamentals, but also about determination and perseverance in taking on a large project and the steps it took to finish it to the end. We feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in our finished product.