Project Grade 4 Art & Music
Brightwater Water Workers: A Public Mural Panel Project
A grade 4 art project where teams design and paint mural panels honoring five water workers, then present the mural and artist statements to a mock water board.
Objectives
- Students will research five different water jobs and choose one to picture.
- Students will design and paint a mural panel that shows one worker doing a real job.
- Students will write and present an artist statement explaining why the job matters.
Vocabulary
Key words: mural, panel, artist-statement, water-worker
Teacher overview
Utilities really do commission public murals that honor the workers who keep water safe, and this project puts a grade 4 class in that role for the fictional town of Brightwater. Over four sessions, teams research five water jobs, design and paint one mural panel each, and present the finished mural with artist statements to a fictional water district board played by the class. The five workers reach their jobs by different education paths, and the project treats every path as equally worthy of respect. A plant operator usually starts with a high school diploma, on-the-job training, and a state license earned by passing a test. A pipe crew worker often learns on the job through an apprenticeship. A water tester may finish a two-year program. A water engineer earns a four-year college degree, and a water scientist often studies even longer in graduate school. When reviewing sketches, hold each panel to showing one real, specific job, such as testing a water sample, rather than a generic person standing near a tank.
Project Brief
Driving question: How can our class honor the people who bring us clean water with a mural?
Brightwater is a fictional town. The town wants a mural about its water workers. Your class will build the mural together. The mural has five panels. Each panel shows one water worker doing one job.
The five water workers are:
- A plant operator, who runs the plant that cleans the water.
- A pipe crew worker, who fixes the water pipes under the streets.
- A water tester, who checks that the water is safe to drink.
- A water engineer, who plans new tanks and pipes for the town.
- A water scientist, who studies water and finds new ways to keep it clean.
Your team makes one panel. Follow these rules:
- Each panel is 12 inches by 18 inches.
- Show one worker doing one real job.
- Use no more than four colors on your panel.
- Add a short label that names the job.
Your team also writes a short artist statement. The statement tells what your worker does. It also tells why the job matters. At the end, your class adds a title banner across the top. Then you show the mural to the Brightwater water board. The board is played by your classmates.
Milestones
- Session 1 (Learn the jobs): Look at the five water workers. Read one fact card about each job. Talk about how each worker helps. Pick one worker for your team. Output: your team's chosen worker, written on a card.
- Session 2 (Sketch the panel): Draw two quick thumbnail sketches of your worker doing the job. Pick the best one. Plan the four colors you will use. Output: one chosen sketch with the colors marked.
- Session 3 (Paint the panel): Paint your final panel at 12 inches by 18 inches. Keep to your four colors. Add the job label. Output: one finished, labeled panel.
- Session 4 (Build and present): Line up all five panels in a row. Add the title banner on top. Read your artist statement to the water board. Output: the finished class mural and your team's artist statement.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Rubric
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panel craft and color rule | Panel is unfinished or ignores the four-color rule | Panel is mostly finished but uses more than four colors or is hard to read | Panel is finished, neat, and uses four colors or fewer | Panel is finished, neat, uses four colors well, and the color choices help tell the story |
| Water job accuracy | Panel does not show a clear water job | Panel shows a water worker but the job is unclear or mislabeled | Panel clearly shows one real water job with a correct label | Panel clearly shows one real water job, correctly labeled, with a true detail such as a test sample or a pipe wrench |
| Artist statement and presentation | Statement is missing or does not explain the job | Statement names the job but does not say why it matters | Statement explains the job and why it matters, and is read to the board | Statement explains the job and why it matters, is read clearly, and connects the worker to keeping the town's water safe |
Differentiation
Support
Give these teams a printed worker outline and a fact card with two key details underlined, so they can focus on painting and on writing a short statement. Offer a statement frame: "My worker is a ___. This worker ___. This job matters because ___."
Extension
Ask a team to add a small second figure to its panel showing a helper or a tool the worker uses, and to add one sentence to the artist statement about how the two work together to keep the water safe.
ELL supports
Pre-teach the five job names with a picture card for each worker and a simple verb, such as run, fix, test, plan, and study. Allow the artist statement to use the sentence frame with short phrases, and let students practice reading it to a partner before the board presentation.
Extensions
Invite a real water worker from a local utility to visit the class or answer a short letter about a typical day, and add what the class learns to the mural as an extra fact card. If the school allows it, display the finished mural in a hallway during a water-awareness week so other classes can read the panels.