March 29, 2007 — Students at Ulla Muller Elementary School are standing on top of the world. An imaginative donation from The Paint Depot's Mike Perron has put the nations of the world — painted in bright colors — literally under the children's feet.
"I found this huge stencil world map online," Perron said, "and instantly wished I could have played with one when I was a kid."
He then called several schools with an offer to paint the nations on their playgrounds. According to Perron, "Adam Klopner, a teacher and math coach at Ulla Muller called me and said, 'Let's do it!'"
It took less than a day for Perron, some teachers, students and parents to paint the 20-foot-by-36-foot mural on the school's blacktop.
"I can hardly wait until the kids come to school on Monday and see the look in their eyes," said Klopner.
The multi-color map shows the outline of each country, but no city or country names.
Perron said students painting in the country names and capitals might be a good place to start. A booklet that came with the map provides dozens of other ideas as well.
"Imagine telling children 'Let's go to Beijing, China and have a fortune cookie.' This type of creative learning is so much more powerful than trying to memorize country capitals by rote," he said.
Principal Ophelia Shillingford and Margarita Benjamin, a PTA member, loved the ideas and helped paint.
"This map will be a great teaching tool," said Daniela Roumou, the fifth-grade teacher and president of the Parent-Teacher Association at Ulla Muller.
If your school wants a playground world map, call Mike Perron at 775-1466. All you need is a plot of asphalt in a safe area that's large enough and at least six to eight adult volunteers. It takes about six hours to paint.
Also, the area needs to be very clean and dust free. Since the stencil is made of paper, a sunny, calm day is ideal.
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