Once again we are nearing the time to send our fabulous fourth graders on to middle school. We know it’s time – they are ready, but it’s always sad to see them go. You see, we don’t have much turnover in our private school. Many of these students have been here since kindergarten so we get to know them well. And, it’s hard to let them go. The good thing is that we’ll still get to see them; perhaps not on a daily basis but we’re a tight-knit K-12 school so we really do get to watch them grow!

A few years ago, I started having the students draw a self-portrait using MS Paint. This became their avatar for various on-line applications – blogs, VoiceThread, etc. All second, third, and fourth graders did this. Then, one spring, I decided to try the self-portraits with first grade and make a collage.

This fourth grade class is the first group that has a self-portrait for each year as a “grader.” As a surprise for the students, I used Photoscape to create a collage of their drawings. Whether the children have been here for four years or one, each will receive a printed picture of their self-portraits. I have to admit that it did take me a while to pull this together – not because it was difficult! I just had so much fun looking at their illustrations, remembering when they created them, and observing how they had changed over time!

Here are some samples of their work over time. (Top row: 1st grade on left; 2nd on right. Bottom row: 3rd on left; 4th on right.)

I hope these collages will provide special memories for the students and their families as they have done for me!