The combination of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and Barack Obama’s inauguration brought some creative tasks to Oak Harbor schools this week.

At Hillcrest Elementary, students dressed in red, white and blue gathered behind the school for a school-wide photograph. The formation, made up of 650 people, created the image of an American flag.

The exercise was connected to the U.S. flag unit, in which students were taught what the stars and stripes represent and they were asked to create their own flag.

“It was a good community building activity with kids teaching kids and helping each other be successful with fine motor skills,” Principal Linda Schonberg said in a press release.

Thursday at 9:05 a.m., Hillcrest students watched President Barack Obama’s oath of office, followed by a video about King. The grade-schoolers discussed his contributions to the county and his connection to the inauguration they witnessed.

Across town, students at Oak Harbor Middle School were also tuned to the inauguration.

Following Obama’s inaugural address, the students wrote down their dreams and walked through a curtain, painted in the image of Dr. King, to tape their collective dreams onto a bulletin board.

Students at Broad View Elementary created “Yes I Can” cans, a slogan in Obama’s campaign. The idea was for each students to take the decorated can home to fill with spare change. Families could then donate the money to any cause they like.

Hillcrest ended their “Inaugural Week” activities with a study of the White House on Thursday (including pets, kids and first ladies) and a Friday writing workshop. The kids drafted letters to either the president or his daughters.

“All in all, a very fun-filled, packed week of many activities to reinforce civics, community service, understanding about MLK, Jr. and the significance of our first African-American president, and what it means to be an American citizen,” Schonberg said.