Clay!

Students love CLAY. It is an extremely responsive material. Clay is a specific sculptural art form that has many historical roots. The challenge is for students to learn the basics of attachments and hand-building to make a strong structure that also satisfys their creativity and curosity.

Essential question: What is clay? Where does it come from? How do people use it? How can we make something out of clay that is strong?

1st grade students Create Clay Animals from Observation in alignment with their Wit & Wisdom Learning about animal traits and characteristics:

Questions include: What makes one animal different from another? What parts will you need? What shapes are those parts?

An Eagle and her Nest

Sloth and T-Rex ➡️

Dinosaur and Rhinoceros

Before students work in coil pots, they explore different types of lines.

1st grade students work collaboratively to make coil pots.

Coil pots are an extension of an exploration of 3D lines.

Second Grade Rattles in Clay: 2nd grade students further their understanding of percussive sound through the construction of clay rattles. They look at rattles from ancient Egypt that were found in tombs of children to gain a connection to children from other times and other cultures, they learn the concept of transformation by changing the simple orb of their clay rattle into an animal, a rocketship, a hand holding the world, etc. In fact, the discovery process that comes through investigations with materials is one of the pillars that I use to guide my lesson planning and curriculum practice.

Creatures

Mushroom Log

Dog with a Bone

Octopus

Third Grade Autobiographic Stories in Clay:

In the NC Standards, 3rd grade students use a personal point of view to tell their stories both in Language Arts as well as in Visual Art. In this sequence, students thought about what personal story they wanted to share (funny or serious, a small daily observation, or a life-changing event, etc.), they told each other their autobiographic stories, they created thinking sketches of what they wanted to convey & what detials to involve. In addition, they made a story board of ideas from which they chose their favorite illustration to turn into a clay autobiographic panel. Throughout the unti, students looked at & discussed the relief art from ancient Greece, Egypt, and contemporary American artist Peter Gourfain.