5th Grade Coil Pots

My 5th grade students made coil pots for their clay project this year. I showed them a variety of ways to build with coils, and then let them make their coil pot however they wanted. Some of them turned out really nicely! Here are a few examples:

This one is a flower:

This one is a dolphin:

I like the openings in this one. It would make a nice candle holder:

This one has some really intricate swirls:

2nd Grade Learns About Monet!

I have seen many creative lesson plans on Monet’s Bridge over the Water-Lily Pond series, and decided to study his work with my 2^nd graders for our last art project of the year. I decided to use crayons and watercolors for the students’ artwork.

This ended up being a great wrap-up project, because I was able to review many concepts with them! We discussed space, and purposely made lily pads in the distance smaller than ones in the foreground. We discussed color schemes, and how we should use a different color of green for the bridge than for the trees behind it. After I showed the students a photograph of the bridge as it is today, most of the students chose blue-green for their bridge. We also talked about composition, and reasons to make your picture tall (portrait) or wide (landscape). Another thing I reviewed with the students is planning out lightly in pencil before using crayons or paint.

The students loved learning about how Monet captured the light in his artwork, and you could tell if it was morning, afternoon, sunset, or sunrise. I also showed them his Haystacks series. The students were impressed that he even painted the haystacks in the snow!

I was very impressed by the beautiful water lily bridge pictures that my students made. I had a great group of second graders this year, and can’t wait to see what they will accomplish in 3^rd grade next year!

One of the most famous versions of Monet's bridge series:

A photograph of the bridge as it looks today:

6th Grade Ceramic Mugs

My 6th grade students made ceramic mugs for their clay project. I purposely only purchased dinnerware safe glazes so that all of their projects would be functional and safe to use.

The mugs are constructed from slabs. The students traced a jar to make a circle for the bottom, and then cut a long skinny rectangle for the sides. I showed them several options on how to make a handle, but I think the favorite was to make a coil, and then flatten it.

I let the students make any design they wanted on their mugs (school appropriate, of course). Some of the students were really creative, and it was great to see what they came up with!