Three years

ago the school's PTO began construction on the courtyard through a Georgia

Outdoor Grant and community donations. Complete with fishponds, various

types of vegetation and a 500 square foot arbor seating area, the courtyard

provides a wildlife habitat for birds, frogs, butterflies, turtles and

numerous insects. It also serves as an outdoor classroom for learning

about nature.

This year,

as a third-time recipient of the Outdoor Grant, Kedron decided to use

the funds in a unique way. In an effort to get students more involved

in the courtyard and to give them a sense of ownership, each of the 41

classrooms at the school designed and created their own Mosaic steppingstone.

"Not only

has this project given the courtyard year around color, but the children

feel a connection to it. They enjoy coming out here and finding the stone

that they helped to create," says Denise Pabst, a parent and member

of the courtyard committee.

The committee,

in cooperation with the art department, began the project by having each

child draw a design in art class based on their grade level theme: kindergarten,

colors, shapes and patterns; first grade, lunar; second, animal nature;

third, non-animal nature; fourth, Georgia; and fifth, patriotic.

The committee

selected one design from each class and transferred it onto a 16-inch

precast stone. The designs were chosen carefully so that each stone would

be unique and no two stones would reflect the same idea.

Parents logged

many volunteer hours breaking hundreds of tiles, most of which were donated

In order to give each student an opportunity to work on the stone for

his or her classroom, five children would rotate out of their art class

to an adjacent area in the hall. There, parent volunteers guided them

through the process of gluing each piece of tile in its proper location.

The pieces

of tile had already been selected and set on a paper copy of the design.

The process worked similar to putting a puzzle together. The students

simply transferred the pieces of tile from the paper drawing to the one

on the stone.

After all stones

were completed, parent volunteers grouted and sealed them twice before

placing them in schoolyard habitat.

"The children

did a phenomenal job and are very proud of their accomplishment. They

love coming out here. This project helped them to create a greater sense

of awareness for this outdoor space," says Pabst.

After finishing

the steppingstones, the courtyard committee is using left over funds to

purchase additional plants to complete this year's project.

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