What happens when students begin with similar pieces but are given the freedom to make them their own? 

Pieces of Our Community is a colorful collaborative collage lesson inspired by the house series of living artist Laura Petrovich-Cheney.

Students begin with simple geometric shapes and use color, cutting, layering, and their own creative choices to transform those pieces into completely unique houses. Displayed together, the individual artworks become one vibrant community—and a beautiful way to explore how we can have similarities and differences while still belonging together.

Designed to grow with your students, this lesson can be completed with precut shapes for younger artists or turned into a geometry, measurement, and creative problem-solving challenge for older students.

This resource includes:

• Complete lesson overview
• Materials + teacher prep
• Adaptations for Grades 1–5
• Discussion + reflection prompts
• Exact measurements
• Printable cutting templates
• Living artist introduction
• Artist observation + discussion page
• Photos of the completed collaborative installation

This project was classroom-tested with 216 first- and second-grade artists and designed to give students enough structure to feel successful while leaving plenty of room for individual ideas and creative voice.

Perfect for teachers looking for a collaborative art project, elementary collage lesson, community-building art activity, geometry connection, or colorful hallway display.

Digital PDF resource. No physical product will be shipped.