6th Grade - Clay "Word" Sculptures

This lesson combined all the clay building techniques the 6th graders had learned through throughout their elementary years. They could make a functional or decorative piece, use coils, pinch pots, slabs, etc... Their goal was to represent a particular word in their sculpture. I presented them with a list of adjectives, and drew their names randomly to choose their word. This way, each student in each class had a different one. They could represent their word any way they wanted in their sculpture; literally or figuratively. This is a very creative group, so I knew there would be some amazing results!!

"Dangerous"

"Wacky"

"Delicious"

"Funny"

"Dangerous"

"Dizzy"

"Powerful"

"Strange"

"Wacky"



6th Grade - Surreal Hands

This was a lesson I did with my last year's 6th graders.  I just came across the pictures and wanted to post them!  This was a somewhat challenging project, but well worth it in the end.  Students learned about surrealism and had to come up with a sketch of their hand as some kind of surreal scene.  Next, they turned their drawings into clay sculptures.  Each person's sculpture started with clay slab, where they traced and cut out their own hand.  Next, they added details to the hand, make it more realistic before bending it into the particular pose they needed.  They got more clay to add on their "surreal" parts to the hand.  The sculptures were then fired and painted.

3rd Grade - Coil Pots

Here are the coil pots the 3rd grade students made this past winter.  They could start with any shape of their choice for the bottom slab, and then build up the sides with any number of coil techniques.  They are beautiful every year!

4th Grade - Animal Pots

4th graders had 3 requirements for their animal pot; it had to be a pot/container, have a lid that fits, and had to somehow be transformed into an animal.  They did a sketch before beginning.  The pots all started as a pinch pot, and animal parts were added on by slipping and scoring.  Lids were made from either slabs or pinch pots.  Fired pieces were painted and clear glazed.  They were all so fantastic I couldn't just choose a few pictures!

1st Grade - Clay Fish Sculptures

These colorful clay fish were created by first graders.  (They took them out of the room so fast this is the only picture I got!)  They practiced wedging their clay, flattening into a slab, drawing the fish with the needle tool, cutting it out and adding details.  They also added a fish texture by pressing seashells into the clay.  Once fired, they painted with watercolors and finished them off with a layer of acrylic glaze.