Day 4 in the classroom

Today was the before an extended Easter weekend. So it was a major wrap up day so that things would not dry up over the weekend.  Students were at several different places. Some were still working on masks others had already begun to glaze theirs.  It was interesting to see the ideas that occurred. Most masks seemed to take on an animal theme like a cat, parrot, and donkey to name a few. Others seemed to be more comical face with outlandish features.  For instance some of them had large noses or prominent eyebrows.  There wasn’t a lot to help with today, as the students seemed to be well on their way with the projects. So, I went around and asked what the students liked about the project. Most of them said they enjoyed being able to create a mask with a theme as many of them chose animals that they liked.

In the 5^th grade they also started a really quick one-day coil pot. For this lesson he basically gave each of the students a chunk of clay and gave them step-by-step instructions as they followed his lead.  I went around and helped students as he went that might have questions. He stayed in the front of the room so I thought this way I could be of help to those that were still not getting it. Once the students had a pinch pot made with several layers they were asked to add a handle to make it a mug as well as add pieces to create eyes and a mouth for their pot. For a quick day lesson each of them worked extraordinarily well to finish up the project.

The 6^th grade continued their aboriginal artworks. This time they started to add the dots to their sketches they had created during the previous class.  The students seemed to enjoy doing this project. Many of them were timid to transfer their sketches on to a bigger piece of paper though. Most of them only really made it to this first step of the project because of that fact. Unfortunately that means they won’t get back to this project for a few weeks, as I will be starting my lesson the next week. Another thing I noticed was that students didn’t always take advantage of the amount of paper they were given. So, it will be interesting to see how these projects turn out.