Fourth graders at Nottingham Elementary School created this time line mural to celebrate Arlington County's Bicentennial. After learning about one and two point perspective, they applied this knowledge to interpret photographs and documents from local histories. (See the Arlington Bicentennial illustrated history timeline on their website.)

Students generated these images through careful observation of details. Art History, Social Studies and Language Arts objectives were achieved by identifying, re-creating and writing about art resources and the local community.

After a summer tour of Town Hall and the Arlington County Fair, Nottingham Elementary's Bicentennial mural is being installed in the Arlington Education Center, where all students will surely find new meaning in its familiar structures and patriotic symbols. We hope to publish more examples of their work during the coming school year.

ARLINGTON ACROSTICS
The fourth grade students also created these Acrostics which are displayed on the Mural:

Ms. Erwin's Class's Acrostic

Arlington
Lee Custis Mansion
Interesting places to visit
Neighborhoods are wonderful and friendly
Great nature parks
Terrific teachers
Olympic swimmer, Tom Dolan, is from Arlington
Nice environment

Mrs. Jenson's Acrostic

Amazing history
Right next to Washington D.C.
Lots of friendly people
In the Piedmont Region
Nottingham Elementary School
Great places to be
Tons of historic buildings
On top of the best county list
No place is more beautiful than Arlington

Ms. Medon's Acrostic

A great place to live
Really good schools and places to go
Lucky to be part of US History
I go to Nottingham Elementary School
Now we've learned all about Arlington and the state of Virginia
Good friends, neighbors and teachers
Today we still remember the heroes at Arlington Cemetery
One day we will be part of Arlington's history
Now we are proud to be growing in such a special city.

CREDITS
Mina Grubb and Virginia Teaford are the Visual Arts Teachers who conceived and worked on this mural
Sharon Davis-Holmes is the Principal of Nottingham
Kathy Grove is the Assistant Superintendent of Instruction
Robert G. Smith is Arlington's Superintendent of Schools
Margaret Lampe is the Chairperson of the Bicentennial Task Force.

MORE ABOUT ARLINGTON'S BICENTENNIAL
Fourth graders in Elizabeth Burgos's class at Barrett Elementary "swapped stories" with elder community partners and wrote about their experience, creating Lasting Bicentennial Legacies.

We are grateful to Judy Thibault Klevins, Arlington Public Schools Liaison to the Bicentennial Task Force, for pulling together all of these resources and sharing them with us. While we were preparing these pages, the catastrophes of October 11 occurred, making Arlington and New York sister cities in an unbelievable national tragedy. Read Judy's poem in our Letters section.

Teachers, Please visit our Special Forum on "Teaching Through the Tragedy."