Pinch Pots

Our 2nd and 3rd Grade students are creating Pinch Pots from clay!
For this lesson, we began by talking about the properites of clay.  How is it different than Play-doh?  Where does it come from?  Then we talked about what we can do with clay.  Do we throw it?  Do we roll it?

As part of many art lessons, we learn about the history associated with the lesson.  For this lesson, we discussed Greek Pottery.  Greek pots were functional in purpose.  They could not buy pots and bowls at Wal-Mart so they needed to create their own.  We looked at a few ancient Greek pots for examples.

Pottery with Red Figure

Pottery with Black Figure

We then moved on to the creative process in art.  The students began by exploring the clay.  They rolled the clay into a ball, flattened it into a pancake and became familiar with it's properties. We then began to make our Pinch Pots.  I asked the students to pay particular attention to the thickness of the walls of their pots.  The walls should be as thick as an eraser or as an Oreo cookie.  The students then used a wooden tool to draw decorations on the side of their pot and finally to write their name on the bottom of their pot.
These are pictures of just a few of our many pinch pots

3rd Grade Pinch Pot

3rd Grade Pinch Pot 

Tray of Leatherhard Pinch pots

The pinch pots dry for 2-3 days from a leatherhard stage to a greenware stage.  The pots are then fired in our Kiln.  They "bake" in the kiln for about 8 hours and reach a temperature or about 2,000 degrees Farenheit.  When they are removed from the kiln, they are considered bisque ware.
These are some pictures of bisque ware pots:

Pinch Pots that have been fired in the Kiln

Bisqueware

 The Pinch Pots are then painted with a glaze.  The students were permitted to pick one color for the glaze as the colors run together.

Painting the pinch pots

The pots are then set to dry for one more day.  When the glaze is dry, they are put into the Kiln for another firing.  Then are fired to Cone 06 again.

Bisqueware painted with Glaze

Pots painted with Glaze

Finally the Pinch Pots are placed back into the Kiln to fire again for about 8 hours until they reach "Cone 06" temperature.  This is the finished product:

Bright Blue Glazed Pinch Pot

Pinch Pots

Pink Glazed Pinch Pot

Purple glazed Pinch Pot

Printmaking

Our students have just finished a lesson on Printmaking.

1st grade students created patterns with styrofoam incised plates.  We discussed basic symbols as well as how to make an "A B A" pattern.

2nd grade students created animal pictures.  We used animal models to learn how to draw an animal figure.  After creating 4 sketches, the kids choose their favorite animal drawing.  They then transferred their drawing to a Styrofoam plate and created a series of prints.

3rd grade students created monogramed cards from printing with styrofoam incised plates.  They were given the option to use their cards for Valentines day, thank you cards or any other idea.

4th grade students began a unit on architecture.  We discussed Frank Lloyd Wright then designed their own building. Finally, they created a series of prints with their Styrofoam incised plates.
Here are a few examples of artwork created in the 4th grade classes.

As part of my current Graduate school class, I created a Glogster to show the students about Printmaking.  Thankfully, I have a gorgeous projector in my classroom that is connected to my computer.  This gives me the capability to project this Glog onto the white board in the Art Room.

You can see the Printmaking Glogster here:

http://m4ney.edu.glogster.com/printmaking/?

I love Technology!

Introduction to Principles of Instructional Technology
For the past year, I've been working on my Master's degree from Ashland University.  It all began because I needed to take 12 college credits to renew my Ohio Teaching License.  But if I'm going to spend time taking classes, it better count towards a degree. So, I enrolled in Ashland University to gain a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction.  As a working mother of two very active daughters, I love Ashland's online offerings.  As I type this homework assignment, I'm on the WiFi at my church while my daughter is in Youth Group!  I can get class work done and take my daughters to their activitites.

As part of my current course, I must create and maintain a Blog.  Thankfully, I've already created this blog.  So, I plan to add a few posts over the next few months about my classwork.
Most recently, we learned to make a Wiki.  Here is the link to my Wiki:
 http://melissaforney.pbworks.com/w/page/50289233/FrontPage

I hope that you'll check it out.  The best part of the Wiki is my research on creating an Art History timeline on the Internet.  Since a basic timeline is required for all 4th grade students in Visual Art in Ohio, I decided to add a technology component.  I'm currently working on the logistics to take the Harmon Elementary students into the computer lab so that they can create their own timeline.

Art History Timeline on Timetoast

After suffering through a college course rich in data and numbers - Quantitative Analysis, I am loving this current course - Introducation to Principles of Instructional Technology.  I've even considered adding a Technology endorsement to my teaching license and adding a "minor" in Technology to my Master's Degree.  Any teachers out there have any recommendations for me?

Weaving

It's weaving time!  Because I travel to 2 different schools, I'm attempting to create lesson plans that contain the same medium.  A few weeks ago was weaving - yarn and paper.

Kindergarten wove a few simple pieces on a Monster

1st Grade is weaving paper strips in an "AB" Pattern

2nd Grade is weaving fabric strips also in an "A B" Pattern.

3rd Grade is Circle Weaving similar to those found in Navajo Weavings.

Mrs. Forney's Circle Weaving

Student Weaving

3rd Grade Student Weaving

3rd Grade Student Circle Weaving with tassles

4th Grade is creating a tapestry weaving from yarn.

4th Grade Tapestry Weaving

Mrs. Forney's Tapestry Weaving

2nd Grade Community Collage

It all started when a 2nd grade teacher asked if I had any ideas about lessons for community.  After searching through the Crayola website and looking at lessons from the Metro-Nashville Public Schools art curriculum, I decided upon Community Collages.

We started by discussing Philip Evergood's Sunny Side of the Street and Allan Crite's Parade on Hammond Street.
We then discussed the things we see in our Community - police stations, schools, apartments, houses, fire stations, stores, etc.
Students were given a blue piece of paper.  We discussed proper cutting and gluing skills along with proper collage techniques.
The students then created buildings.  They added details such as doors and windows.  Then they began to add additional details such as trees, signs and bushes.  Finally, we used colored pencils to draw people that we would see in a community.  They cut out the people and glued them into their community collage.

Here are some of our final artworks:

 Please take a moment to visit our Communities.  They are on display outside of the art room and the cafeteria.  Enjoy!