Mats of Culture

Our school is in a neighbourhood where there is a steady influx of immigrants from different parts of the world, mainly South Asia. Being in a totally different cultural location and often struggling financially, they are often apprehensive about what to expect when they enrol their child at our school. We want to try to create a community feeling from the moment visitors/parents step in. We would like to get a pile of sitting-mats in our foyer for community members to see that all are welcome. They could use those mats to sit and make themselves comfortable while watching our school activities on the electronic display in the front foyer. Our Grade K to 5 students would ENGAGE in decorating those mats with various welcoming messages in different languages that represent our diverse school and local community. Students will CONNECT with the community and show them that our school CARES.

Mise à jour (4 mai 2012)

Our school is very excited to have the funding for these 'Mats of Culture'. The administrator and some keen teachers have been shopping out for mats that can be sturdy and convenient for our K-5 students. We have finally found the right size and material.
Even more exciting is the fact that we will be having student artwork on the mats that spreads a welcoming message in our multicultural community. As part of our South Asian Heritage Month celebrations, mat decorations will be set up as one of the activity centres. We can't wait to see the results!

Mise à jour (26 juin 2012)

Students at our school have had a lot of fun painting these mats. After a lot of shopping around, we finally decided on which types of paints. Then students came up with messages that should go the mats and we spent a lot of time looking for sticky alphabet letters. Ultimately, we found Vinyl letters that stuck nicely onto the mats. We then used roll-on paint to cover the mats and the lettering. Students saw a neat way to create messages using the concept of 'negative space' that would be created on peeling off the letters.

Mise à jour (26 juin 2012)

Students at our school have had a lot of fun painting these mats. After a lot of shopping around, we finally decided on which types of paints. Then students came up with messages that should go the mats and we spent a lot of time looking for sticky alphabet letters. Ultimately, we found Vinyl letters that stuck nicely onto the mats. We then used roll-on paint to cover the mats and the lettering. Students saw a neat way to create messages using the concept of 'negative space' that would be created on peeling off the letters.

Mise à jour (27 juin 2012)

Our mats look splendid with all the messages that students have painted on. The messages show the community feelings that our school promotes and also reflect the character values that we aim to teach at Corliss. These mats will be housed in our front foyer to be used by students, teachers, parents or any other visitors who wish to make themselves comfortable or who would like to watch our school slideshows on the screen in the foyer. We are very happy to have participated in this project and for the funding that made this happen!