The Shalom Mural underway!

SHALOM is the Hebrew word for PEACE, and also means Hello and Goodbye.

'Shalom' in Hebrew

So, when my Temple religious school approached me about having the children paint a mural with on the school hallway, the word SHALOM came to mind.  After all, I had also worked with these kids back in September, when we made pinwheels to participate in Pinwheels for Peace.  It seemed a theme worth continuing.

The religious school is very small, currently only 16 children from pre-K through grade 7, plus a few young teens who help out.  There are three teachers; our congregation's Rabbi teaches the older students, and the younger kids are taught by two young women, one who was a religious school classmate of my son! 

Once we got the go-ahead to do the mural, I blocked out the letters on the wall, in Hebrew first, and then in English.  In between the two words, we decided there should be a dove..

 And today was our first painting day!  The kids were terrific, and a teen helper, a parent, a teacher, and the Rabbi all pitched in to paint!  It will be two weeks before we can work on it again (since I'll be in San Diego at the NAEA convention) next weekend.  

This young man (above) was a meticulous painter.  And he's just a kindergartner!!

 The girls above and below are sisters.  The older sister (below), remarked that the paints we were using (Blick acrylics) are indelible!  Pretty impressive vocabulary for a 5 year old!  loved watching the kids make decisions about what colors to use where.  By the way, the lovely letter O above was painted by a young teen who helps out in the religious school. 

 There were several absences in the school today, but the kids who were there all worked very hard.  I loved watching the younger and older children all work together. 

 Below, our Rabbi!

 

 And below, a parent of two boys; she has been doing a lot of organizing and planning for the religious school. 

 The teacher painting in the photo below, is also the mom of the two cutie-pie sisters. 

Hard at work, making decisions together.

 By the way, the warm/cool color idea was mine, as a way to let the kids paint however they wanted and still be able to see the words.  The older boys decided to paint wall blocks in solid colors, but in our next session they will be able to paint patterns and designs on top of the solid colors, still within the designated color framework.  I'm really happy with the way it is working out!!