I'm Your Neighbor!

 

Amanda Rowe  Elementary School, Portland

grade 3/4, 2019

 

"Our families came from Sudan and South Sudan where it is very hot!"

 

In this Side X Side project in a highly diverse Portland school, many students and their families come "from away" - far away!  This mural was a part of their unit on immigration, and the goal was to explore and celebrate the many paths taken to this community. Students interviewed family, community members and even fellow students about their experiences, as well as studying Wabanaki culture and the slave trade.  The unit concluded with students attending a naturalization ceremony in the school auditorium.

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Mural materials: acrylic paint and permanent marker on birch ply panels

 

collaborators: Side x Side, Maine Historical Society, Abbe Museum

 

grant support: U.S. Department of Education AEMDD grant

 

photo credit: Side x Side