Ceramic Self Portraits

     I love working with clay!  So do children, so this is a good mix.  At the end of the school year, we sit in small groups and make a loose version of "sgraffito" self portraits onto a clay pancake.  They are fired, glazed with clear gloss, then fired again.  The kids are always amazed when they finally get to see and touch the final product and can't believe it's something they made.  
     I'm not sure where I got the idea for this, but it might be in an art curriculum called Spectra.
     I model the entire method before anyone does anything with clay.  First, on a quarter sheet of 8 1/2 x 11" paper, I pencil sketch a simple picture of me, telling them to keep it simple, because clay is different than paper and details won't show up as well.  Then, on my lap, I roll out the clay, make holes for ribbon, use my sketch as a guide and gently scratch the same sketch onto the clay, warning them to not be too strong as you can go all the way through and it will break in the kiln.  "Gasp!"  The drama is what gets them...

1.  Start with a ball of clay about the size of a ball that would fit in a child's hand.  Roll it out onto a paper towel or paper plate to make a "pancake."  The paper towel is crucial so you don't have a masterpiece stuck to the table.  Roll to a about 1/4" thickness, no less.

2.  The adult then needs to use a straw to make two holes in the top of the pancake for ribbon.
3.  The child then uses anything pointy you have laying around, like a toothpick, old pencil, skewer, paper clip, etc. to scratch their self portrait from their practice sketch.

4.  Then use your alphabet rubber stamps for the child to stamp his/her name in, or, let him/her write the    name and stamp the year.  Whatever you want.

5.  Let dry for about a week, longer is better.
6.  We fire to cone 06, as anything hotter isn't necessary.
7.  Glaze with clear glaze, being careful to not drip onto the back.  If any drips do occur, clean off with a wet sponge.  Also, check the holes for glaze or you won't have holes anymore.
8.  Fire again and add ribbon!

I don't have a final picture, but imagine the one below all shiny like glass with a pretty satin ribbon in the holes.

     These are too much work to not show off!!   So they are proudly displayed on the wall for Open House.  I do, however, let the parents remove them from the wall, as the thought of them in a backpack, on the bus, gives me shivers.
     If you have a kiln at your disposal, working with ceramic clay is a must.  This is easiest and cutest clay project you can ever do, even if you have zero experience with clay.  There's a reason I've been doing it every year for the past 109 years!

T is for Turkey

     The truth about the first Thanksgiving use to be completely lost on me.  As a kid, I was taught about Pilgrims and Indians and my entire bank of knowledge about the matter was through what I learned in elementary school in the 70s.   I've always liked Thanksgiving, mostly because it's not a gift-giving holiday and it's remained a day to set aside the daily grind, spend time with family and reflect upon that for which we are grateful.  Back then, my entire extended family got together at my Aunt Helen's.  My mom contributed pies and cheesecake while other members contributed the rest of the meal.  There were cousins to play with and the Twilight Zone marathon to watch while we waited seemingly endless hours for dinner to be ready.
     In years past, I've shied away from teaching about Thanksgiving, other than what we do for a "thankful" performance, because I don't want to pass along the myths as truth.  Here is a link from National Geographic Kids that explains the origins of Thanksgiving:  http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/history/first-thanksgiving/  After reading through this, I felt better knowing I'd gotten what I do teach mostly right, with a few exceptions pertaining to dates.
     So, with that said, I'd like to share what my team and I do for the month of November, since it's typically a month of minimum days, followed by a short week, and chopped up periods of time anyway.  It's the perfect way to carve out that time to rehearse a performance!

photo from amazon.com

     A few years ago, a colleague found this book for sale at our library book fair.  She thought it would make a great play, as it's an ABC book with facts about Thanksgiving.  We set out to add music and poems throughout the story and voila! We now have a tradition.
     In order for the kids to understand what it is they are saying in the performance, we used our GLAD strategies to teach about where the settlers came from, why (briefly) they left Europe, and what it was like for children.  They can relate to that.
     On our map of the world, I drew a symbol for the Mayflower and showed them how it left Europe, crossed the Atlantic, and landed in Cape Cod Bay in Plymouth.

I made this map at the beginning of the year to teach about oceans.  I will continue to add to it all year.

     Then I taught them about the ship itself.  To prepare for the lesson, I google-imaged a diagram of the Mayflower, copied/pasted it into Microsoft Publisher, made a transparency, then used my overhead projector to project the image onto the board where I had chart paper taped up.  I lightly sketched the ship in pencil.  Thank you to whomever made that image available!  Please note:  if you currently have an overhead projector, keep it, because this technique doesn't work as well with a document camera.  Just sayin'.
     When it was time for the lesson, I used markers and talked my way through drawing the ship as they listened. I had my scouts watching for anyone who should get a learning award.  After 10 minutes of teaching, they turned and talked (this is referred to as a "10/2" strategy, meaning you teach for 10 minutes, then let them talk about it for 2 minutes).  The scouts awarded the good listeners and we moved on.

I'm now seeing my errors.  Are you?

     The next day, I passed out labels for reinforcement of academic vocabulary.  They had to turn and talk for a few minutes, figure out what their labels said, what they meant, etc.  We then reviewed the poster (really, it's just me and my Jedi knight pointer) and the lucky ones with the labels in their hands got to come up and stick them on.
     When that was over, I told them they were now going to get to learn how to draw this ship!  So I passed out paper and instructed them to get their black crayon out.  "I don't have a black!" ensued, so once we got everyone the correct color (do they eat their crayons?!), we proceeded.  It's so funny how nearly everything turns into an exercise in problem solving.

          I started with the body of the ship, across the bottom, then up to the beak and told them do the same. When I'm drawing, I'm constantly referring to the vocabulary from the poster, encouraging them to go ahead and try, to make mistakes, enjoy the act of drawing and not be concerned with the final product.  Otherwise, they'll never take the risk.  This is also why I always have them draw in crayon, to avoid perfectionism.  I love how each one turned out different!
     To fill in any gaps, I read The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern, as I believe it comes closest to what is on the National Geographic Kids web page.  It takes a closer look at how being on the Mayflower was for the children, who only had one set of clothes, shoes and no toys.  Learning about hardship is not lost on many of them, as they all too often experience it themselves.

photo by amazon.com

      I really like it when I can point out the fact they were real people, not cartoon characters, and the native people were torn about them coming.  I am, however, guilty of not teaching about the dishonesty and bad treatment that came the following year, though, and am not sure if first grade is the time for that.
     So for now, since they are only 6 years old, they get to memorize lines, recite poems, and sing about how Thanksgiving in this country came about.  We used songs from a Wolf Press play about Thanksgiving ("66 Days and 66 Nights" and "Our Trip to the New World"), several poems that we googled, some silly and some sentimental, and a Raffi song called "Thanks a Lot."
     It's a bit stressful, but I keep telling myself over and over again, "It'll be fiiiiine!"  Every time they sit on stage, practicing, but are talking and messing around, "It'll be fine," is my inner voice.  Because, gratefully, it's always FINE!  How can it not be?