Our school is focusing on the character trait integrity this year, so I thought it would be the perfect theme for one of my favourite beginning-of-the-year art projects: Rainbow Words.
Before starting, students in Grades 4–9 brainstormed words related to the idea of integrity. They then chose one word that was meaningful to them and used it as the focus of their artwork. I love this project for the beginning of the school year because it is fairly straightforward, but produces wonderfully colourful and eye-catching results. It also gives me a great opportunity to get a sense of each student's skill level, especially when I have new students in my classes.
Students began with a sheet of 8.5 x 11" copy paper, folded horizontally in half. They printed or wrote their chosen word large across the paper and then outlined the letters boldly using a black marker. This step is important—the thicker, darker outlines really help the word stand out.
Students chose a colour scheme and began tracing around each letter with their first colour. Then they moved on to the next colour, continuing to outline around the word again and again until there was no white space left on the page.
Although we used integrity as our theme this year, the possibilities for this lesson are endless. The words could relate to almost any topic, goal, value, or theme you are exploring in your classroom. It could also easily become a colour theory lesson by challenging students to use warm or cool colours, analogous colours, complementary colours, or another specific colour scheme.
I also think integrity is an especially important topic for students to think about right now. It sometimes feels as though integrity is in short supply in the world around us when we watch the news, particularly among *some* world leaders. Teaching students to think about values such as honesty, responsibility, respect, and doing the right thing—even when no one is watching—feels more important than ever.
And, of course, it doesn't hurt that the finished artwork makes for a pretty spectacular display!
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