Wantagh Elementary School Fifth Graders Begin Work On Annual Mural

WANTAGH, NY. — Wantagh Elementary School fifth graders took a page out of Peter Reynolds’ book Friday, beginning work on an annual student mural inspired by Reynolds' classic, "The Dot."

“Just make a mark and see where it takes you,” Reynolds wrote in “The Dot.”

The book tells the story of a young girl who doesn't believe she can draw, and after prompting from a teacher the girl draws all she can muster: A single dot on a white sheet of paper.

To her surprise, the work receives positive feedback, and the teacher asks the girl to sign her drawing and frames it. After this encounter, the girl starts to believe she can do better than just one dot, experimenting with water color paints and different structures and techniques in her paintings.

By the end of the book, the girl has made enough work for an entire art installation. When a little boy praises her work, saying he doesn't believe he can draw, the girl asks him to draw what he can. He does his best, producing a single squiggled line, and the girl asks him to sign it, the district said.

For each of the 124 Wantagh students, a similar opportunity will present itself, to draw what they can in an allotted space. That drawing will become part of a larger collection as each student, led by art teacher Taylor Potish, adds their own mark before the mural's completion in the spring.

The mural will join other murals drawn by fifth grade students of yesteryear in a first-floor hallway of Wantagh Elementary. Perhaps fittingly, the mural will be complete with Reynolds’ quote displayed above. As for where each student’s mark takes them, that question will take a little longer to answer.