by student writer Chloe Puryear
Assistant principal Mrs. Joye Phipps wanted to bring more color to Dogwood, so she wrote a grant with teachers. That grant resulted in four different murals that now decorate the walls of the school. With the murals in the halls, the one by Mrs. Phipp’s room intrigued math teacher Mr. Lewie Carmichael the most.Then the idea to use the wall as a learning experience came to his mind.
In 4th grade, Mr.Carmichael’s class used the mural beside Mrs.Phipps' room to see what angles they could find. Mr. Carmichael’s students had a lot of fun, “even if it was just a short trip down the hall,” Carmichael said. “I loved getting out of the room and having a walk around the school.”
The unit in math that they had been working on was angles. The class brought the protractors with them and started finding the angles, using creativity in math. “I enjoyed making my own angles and measuring them,” said fourth grader Hadley Lawrence. “Sometimes we would work in groups and other times we would compare answers.”
“I liked being able to measure them (angles) on the lockers, so I could measure them on paper,” said fourth grader Ben Pressler. “It helped us practice. I think it was fun because we could look at it with our own eyes instead of just with a protractor.”
The angle project would not have been possible without the grant. “I think my favorite part of this project was working with a small group of teachers to decide on the different designs for the walls,” Mrs. Phipps said. “I think the most valuable thing I learned from this whole thing is that there are many creative ways to add to and brighten up an old building.”
Those brighter walls helped the students practice necessary skills.