Summer school session 1: Days 1-3

I am teaching Beginning Ceramics for summer school again this year!  The first few days have flown by!  I have 3 amazing sessions of students grades 2-5.  They are all hardworking students and have been very enthusiastic about the projects so far.

On Monday we reviewed the pinch pot method and created two small pinch pots, joined them together and created minature bird baths.  They are so cute and I love all the extra detail the kids added.  So many of the students added tiny clay birds and some even put vines with leaves climbing on the pedestles. 

On Tuesdays we went over the coil method and used clay coils to create turtle shells.  Students then created a body with head, legs and tails.  Many of the students left the shells detatched so that they could hid small objects under the shell.

Today we went over how to roll out clay slabs.  We use rolling pins and wooden rulers to help keep the clay an even thickness.  From the slabs we cut rectangles to create mugs.  Students added texture to the slab before shaping it into a cylinder.  Bases and handles were added.  It is fun to see the variety of shapes and sizes with the mugs!

 Tomorrow is Thursday and we will wrap up using the stoneware clay so that it has enough time to dry out.  I'm hoping to get these items in the kiln tomorrow or Friday...fingers crossed everything dries in time!!

Right now everything looks all grey... next week we will have a kaleidoscope of colors once we begin to glaze and/or paint our pottery!