Archive: Around Town

As students filed into Lansing's elementary school Monday they couldn't help but notice a wall of decorative tiles that wasn't there when they left for vacation a week before.  Exclamations of 'Look at this!' and 'These are awesome!' and 'I like this one!'   The tiles were painted by fourth graders in 2002 and 2003, but weren't put on display until last week when high school senior Thomas Z Each tile represents a child's five year experience in the elementary school.  Painted in bright colors, the tiles depict kids, teachers, musical instruments, the American flag, balls and sports equipment, numbers, pencils and writing... just about anything you can imagine.  "We brain stormed everything they had done through kindergarten, first, second, third, and forth grade years," explains fourth grade teacher Maureen Johnson.  "We asked them to think about their five years in elementary school, from kindergarten to fourth grade, and make a tile that represented the things that meant the most to them in their elementary education.  Then they created a sloppy copy of their tile.  Then they painted their tiles with acrylic paint, and then we had them fired."