When SHREK JUNIOR was chosen for the Middle School play, I decided it would be fun for my 5th graders to create personal dragons in clay for a show in the lobby. The only thing I knew was that there was a dragon in the play and that I love making dragons with my students...

The 5th graders were asked to create their own personal dragon by naming it, describing it visually (age, gender, size, color,etc) giving it a personality, drawing it, writing about it in writing class as part of an adjective unit and then making it in clay. You will see that each is as unique as each child is unique.

What amazed and amused me after seeing the play, which was nothing less than extraordinary, was that this project really reflected the message of the play perfectly! We need to appreciate and love each other for what we have in common but it is our differences and uniqueness that makes our world a rich and fascinating place to live.

Congratulations to ALL of my 5th graders for doing an AWESOME job with every aspect of this project. Each of you has shared the artist within you with the artist in me through your own PERSONAL DRAGON and other art work this year... Thank you for this wonderful experience...

Let me also congratulate all who participated in the creation of SHREK JUNIOR. This was a monumental task by the way with a hundred or so children, not to mention staff and parents. I love to see the arts come together like this...

I hope you will enjoy these marvelous unique creations as they are sure to put a smile on your face...

Last but not least, a special thank you to Bruce Halverson, Marilyn Mullinax, Diane Talbert and Heike Leitner for their help and support.