Version 2

Krahn Elementary
Our Walls Do Talk!

Part A

After a hug from his mom, Jae enters the school with a spring in his step. Visions
of the campus mission statement remind him of his individual responsibilities as he
rounds the corner to walk to his second grade classroom. His eyes glide along the

walls and immediately his mind is refreshed with important concepts taught to
date. Visions of place value, figurative language, and theme are just a few things

he sees before rounding the corner to his classroom. Already his mind, and all
minds that walk the halls of Krahn Elementary, is geared towards the daily focus …
make every minute count! Our proposal is to take the saying, “if these walls could

talk” and make it obtainable by creating vivid and exciting curriculum focused
anchor murals in areas of high traffic found throughout the building so that Krahn
walls really do talk! These anchor murals will target specific and reoccurring TEKS

that have proven problematic for students to master. The end result will be a
drastic modification of the current school environment that will support, foster,

and encourage student learning at all levels.
1. Promote student achievement through interactive visuals.
2. Promote student culture through interactive visuals.
3. Promote college and career readiness through interactive visuals.

Part B. Instructional Purpose, Goals and Needs:

Krahn Walls Do Talk is a campus-based initiative to create an enhanced learning
environment for all grade levels that will support and extend literacy learning
beyond the wall of the classroom. The proposal is to extend the concept of anchor
charts being solely in the classroom into the creation of hallway anchor chart
murals. These visuals will serve as daily reinforcements of challenging TEKS that
appear consistently at every grade level. Not only will these anchor murals appeal
to all students in the general education population but will also specifically target
the ESL and ELL population. These visuals will provide our English language learners
the necessary visuals to help create the connections that research has proven to
be most effective when working with language assimilation and comprehension.

Collected campus research shows students in the hallways, whether moving to
specials, lunch, recess, switch class, library, and arrival/dismissal, an average of 55
minutes per day. 55 minutes per 187 school days equates to 10,285 minutes
currently not being maximized to their potential. What a learning opportunity! As
Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember,
involve me and I learn.”

Proposed Anchor Murals

PK, Kindergarten and 1st Grade: Alphabet and Number Mural showcasing ABCs, numbers 1 –
20, colors with names and their mnemonic visual combined with key word wall words and their
mnemonic visuals.

~Kinder and 1st grade take, on average, 3 bathroom break per day at 10 minutes per break.

Academic Opportunity: 93.5 hours of Word Wall Time!

~ELA TEKS K1.B, K.1D, K.3A, K.3D, K.11A, K.18.A, 1.1A, 1.1B, 1.1C, 1.1D, 1.1E, 1.3A, 1.3 B, 1.3C, 1.3D,
~Math TEKS 1.3E, 1.3F
K.1D, K.2A, K.2B, K.2C

PK- – 5th Grade (Math): Café Mural teaching fractions, mixed numbers, and equivalent
fractions using food items as examples. Key terms to showcase include numerator denominator,
part of a set, part of a whole, and mixed number with visuals to support. As well, converting
fractions to decimals and percentages will be showcased with examples.

~Students eat lunch daily for 30 minutes.
Academic Opportunity: 93.5 hours of Fraction Time!

~Math TEKS K.1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.8, 2.1, 3.1, 3.3A, 3.3B, 3.3C, 3.3D, 3.3E, 3.3F, 3.3.G, 3.3H, 4.3A. 4.3B, 4.3C,
4.3D, 4.3E, 4.3 F, 4.3G, 5.3H, 5.3I, 5.3J, 5.3K, 5.3L

PK-5th Grade (All Subjects): Krahn Cares! Anchor Mural showcasing positive attributes of
Krahn Cardinals to promote character development as promoted in the Krahn CIP.
~Students enter and exit the main hallway at least twice per day for an average combined

time of 7 minutes.
Academic Opportunity: 21 hours of Character Building!

~Indicated in the Campus Improvement Plan

K – 5th Grade (Math): Number Line, Place Value and Money Anchor mural showcasing the
uses of the number line and place value in terms of number form, base 10 form, expanded form,
and word form with visuals to match. As well, coins of different values and their value will be
highlighted.
~Students move to specials/lunch daily for an average combined time of 8 minutes per day.

Academic Opportunity: 24.9 hours of Math Reinforcement!

~Math TEKS 1.2C, 1.2E, 1.2F, 1.4A, 2.2B, 2.2E, 2.2F, 2.5A, 2.9C, 3.2C, 3.3A, 3.3B, 3.3F, 3.4C, 3.4E, 3.5A,
3.7A, 4.2H, 2.3E

K – 5th Grade (ELA): Figurative Language and Theme Anchor Mural showcasing the eight
common terms of figurative language as well as the definition of theme with examples from
commonly known stories. The visual will include mnemonic visuals and definitions.
~Students move to specials/lunch daily for an average combined time of 8 minutes per day.

Academic Opportunity: 24.9 hours of ELA Reinforcement!

~ELA TEKS K.6A, K,6B, K.6C, K,9A, 1.11A, 1.13A. 2.11A, 2.13A. 3.10A, 3.12A,4.3A, 4.8A, 4.12 A,5.3A,

5.8A,5.12A

PK-– 5th Grade (Fine Arts): Art in the Real World Anchor Mural showcasing a time line of the
top musicians and artists with a visual, short bio, and interesting information. Research shows
that students who struggle academically but find a connections between their real-life interests
and their education are more motivated to persevere if the end goal in sight.

~Students move to art/music daily for an average combined time of 5 minutes per day.
Academic Opportunity: 15.5 hours of Fine Arts Motivation!

~Art TEKS: K.1, K.2, K.3, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.2, 4.3, 5.2, 5.3
K.3A, K.3B, 1.5A, 1.5B, 1.5C, 2.5A, 2.5B, 2.5C, 3.5A. 3.5B. 3.5C, 4.5A, 4.5B, 4.5C,
~Music TEKS: 5.5A, 5.5B, 5.5C

Part C. Educational Enrichment and Support:

The project is 100% replicable and broadly applicable as individual schools can
modify the type of anchor mural based upon individualized needs and academic
data. As well, this project can be tailored to fit whatever size or area teachers are

looking to fill. We feel as though this approach to learning will inspire other
campuses to critically look at the amount of “white space” in their school and seek
ways to maximize its potential. To achieve our goal, we have enlisted the help of
Patterson Design Images, a reputable and well known design company used by many
Klein ISD schools. Together, we walked the building looking for areas of
opportunity that would maximize space, budget, and learning potential. Pictures and
samples are attached. We feel as though the idea of anchor murals is an innovative
approach to helping students learn at all times…even when they don’t realize they
are doing it!

Part D. Curriculum Methods, Activities and Procedures:
Taken from Researched-Based Strategies to Ignite Reading by Judy Willis

“Helping Students Grow More Brain Connections”
In the classroom, the more ways the material to be learned is introduced to the
brain and reviewed, the more dendritic pathways of access will be created. There
will be more synaptic cell-to-cell bridges, and these pathways will be used more
often, become stronger, and remain safe from pruning.
For example, offering the information visually will set up a connection with the
occipital lobes (the posterior lobes of the brain that process optical
input)…Multiple stimulations mean better memory. The more regions of the brain
that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is. This
redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all those related
bits of data from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This
cross-referencing of data strengthens the data into something we've learned
rather than just memorized.”

As well, as taken from Coaching Chronicles, “anchor charts anchors student
thinking while offering a source of visual reference for continued support as the
learner moves forward. Classrooms with rich anchor support leave little doubt
about what a student is expected to learn and offer a “public trail” of thinking, a
collection of learning.”

As research proves, the more times information is viewed, the more the
information will be stored and retained. Teachers throughout our building, when
surveyed, fully support this initiative. One classroom teacher remarked, “When
giving a test, my students will continuously look to the spot in the room where that

anchor chart used to hang. This tells me students are drawing upon the chart to
recall the information.”

In addition, teachers will work collaboratively in PLC to encourage journal writing
based on the images found throughout the murals. When students are working in
small groups, teachers can switch up the location of the lesson to center around
the mural that is predominantly related to the content being taught in the
classroom.

This grant will influence on a daily basis not one, not two but all students at Krahn
Elementary. As students move up through the grades, they will begin to understand
the layered academic value of each mural as their connections to the information
deepens.

Part E. Evaluation and Follow-Up Plan:
Of course, student progress can always be measured via standardized test scores,
but we believe the benefits of this proposal will go beyond the paper and pencil
assessment. Fifth graders will leave Krahn, carrying with them basic skills essential
for success in Junior High and beyond. Our current student population will be able
to build upon their knowledge and understanding of cross-curricular concepts as
they move daily throughout the halls. Through teacher feedback and formative
assessments, it will be interesting to see how these daily visuals affect the
students and impact their learning and recollection of information. As well, starting
the first year of implementation, data will be collected specifically centered
around these murals to track student growth and achievement as related to the
TEKS the murals are centered around. Finally, student and teacher surveys will be
conducted at the end of the year to assess the value of the anchor murals as the
hope is to continue to add to the collection each year with the help of PTO. By
creating a learning environment that is not only vivid and exciting, we will also be
creating one with purpose!

Part F. School and Community Involvement
As this proposal is meant to serve all stakeholders invested in Krahn Elementary,
we feel as though this grant would benefit all of students in PK-5, both our ESL
and SPED population as well as community members who attend lunches with their
child in the café, volunteers who walk Krahn halls daily, café workers who serve the

students as well as any other visitor to Krahn who is ready to learn important
information from the visuals. The goal extends beyond reaching just our students
into the reinforcement of valuable knowledge and skills for our extended family.
The project is absolutely sustainable as Patterson Design Images not only provides
a three-year warranty for their murals but will also work with the campus if
additional repairs are needed after the warranty expires.