Last Day!

Today was my last day at Herriman Elementary. We had a little celebration and discussed the projects we had done. The students said they really enjoyed all the projects!

I really learned a lot from the Art Bridge experience. Some of the main things I learned were adaptability, time management, and how to better communicate/act as a teacher towards students. I will definitely apply these experiences to my future teaching! Mrs. Coyle, Nicola (parent helper), and the class were all wonderful work with. I am very grateful I got the opportunity to receive their help and guidance.

Glazed Work!

The slab fish have finally come out of the kiln! The student’s did a great job glazing. The fish look amazing! 

Exquisite Corpse Books!

We decided to have the students do a drawing activity in order to take up some time in between glazing and shoe polishing. The students first folded a piece of paper into thirds. Each section was for a human’s head, torso, and legs. We are going to rotate our papers around the room so that multiple people drew one complete person. The students then cut and combined them all into flip books. The objectives of this activity was

1) Creative break 

2) Focus on detail/ personal style

            The students had a lot of fun with this activity! This activity was great because it allowed the students to collaborate with each other and show some creativity.

Shoe Polish Glazing Technique!

      Today we used a clear shinny glaze for our coil bowls and then we used shoe polish for our owls! I have never used shoe polish before, but it turned out great! The shoe polish is dark in the cracks but then a nice lighter shade on the rest of the ceramic owls. After the polish dries, we are going to spray a clear coat of paint over the owls to make them more shinny.

      This technique of coloring projects was very different than they were used to but the kids had a lot of fun trying something new.  This technique is fast because there is no need to do a glaze fire. This allows the students to take their projects home faster. It is also less expensive compared to buying glazes!

Multi-Method Bird House!

Today we made bird houses using our favorite building methods! The foundations were made with textured slabs and then the students either pinched or coiled to make their roofs. The objectives of the lesson were to

1) Assess student knowledge of texture, and building methods (slab, pinch, coil)

2) Create a house made from multiple building methods

3) Use art to enhance their creativity and description abilities in writing

This was a great project because it was fun and because it was a final test of their progress and knowledge. Even though the project was challenging, the students’ work turned out beautifully! They were all unique and creative. When placed on the shelf to dry after the lesson, all the projects together looked like a little bird house village!