Phoenecian Tablets

Students in my 3rd-6th grade 12:1:1 class learned about the Phoenicians a while back.  When they were in Social Studies, one of the students had no clue what a clay tablet was, so their teachers asked if I could do something with them about clay tablets.

This project was simple and took two days to complete.  On the first day, I taught students how to roll out clay on the slab roller. Each student got to roll out their own slab.  They took it back to their tables and then rolled the edges to give their clay tablets an old scroll look.  I know that's not how real clay tablets were, but I wanted to make them a little more interesting to look at. 

I know, I know, using the slab roller is kind of cheating, but since I only see the kids once every six days, the slab roller has become very beneficial to time management.  I at least taught them how to use it!

 

After everyone had their slabs rolled out, I gave students an enlarged copy of the Phoenician alphabet from their Social Studies textbook.  Students had to write their name using this alphabet on their clay tablet.

On the second day of the project, after they were fired, I had students paint the clay tablets with tempera paint.  I used powdered black tempera mixed with water, just like the clay fossils I did last year with my 1st graders.  Students dabbed up any extra watery paint using a tissue, which also gave it an old, weathered look.

6th Grade: Ceramic Greek Columns

Here is this year's Ancient Greek projects for my 6th graders.  I did this project two years ago and it was a huge success.  Unfortunately, this year they aren't turning out as great as the first time I did them...and it's through no fault of the students!  It really stinks only having elementary students once every six days!  There is no possible way to keep clay projects wet enough in that 8 day period in between classes (because the weekends add even more time) to allow students two days to work with wet clay. 

All things considering, they did a great job constructing these in a short amount of time, especially since I gave the demo all in the same class!  I tried to cut down on time for them by having slabs pre-rolled using my slab roller instead of having the students roll their own slabs.  Elementary students tend to take a longer time to roll out their own slabs.  Most students also chose to do Ionic and Doric columns...very few Corinthian. 

When I look at the quality of work I was able to get done in the last three years and then compare it to artwork from this year, it makes me a little sad!  If I had my way, I would be 5th-12th grade art so I could really enjoy those students...those are really my favorite grade levels (well, sometimes minus the 7th graders).  My 6th grade curriculum is BY FAR my favorite curriculum...anything that combines art and history makes me giddy with excitement!

I am currently in the process of firing the columns from this year's 6th graders, but I figured that I would share some of the columns from this project when I did it two years ago.  Students had two days to work in wet clay to score and slip, and then a third day to fine tune and smooth out their project.  We then glazed them with clear glaze, and some opted to add a little bit of a green to give it a mossy look.  I will share this years' projects once they are completed!

YAM: 3rd Grade Picasso

Third grade teachers really jumped on board for my YAM activities.  They created a two week unit in their classroom about art!  Last week, they spent time studying different styles and mediums of art.  This week they're talking about Picasso!  They made some really awesome packets for students to use in the classroom and they've really impressed me!  So, my connecting Picasso project is to make slab Picasso faces! (Pinterest influence found here.)

Here are my two examples that I made during my demonstrations.

One third grade teacher asked if they could come down and do the clay Picasso project with the students (during their free period..gasp! ;) )

Last week I started this mini Picasso unit off by having the students draw a quick, 20 minute self-portrait using oil pastels.  I had them cut them up and glue them down all "wonky" onto black construction paper.  I didn't really give them much information to go off of...this was a sort of "filler" project I did while I had no voice and had a substitute.

My example is on the left here...

Because they are covering Picasso so in depth in the classroom, I'm not really doing a full unit on Picasso.  I also cheated a little bit.  I'm not making the students roll out their own slabs for this.  I recently bought this really nice mini slab roller.  I've used it during the after school program because it's quicker, but I haven't used it in class before.

I argued with myself quite a bit as to whether or not to use it, but I decided to use it only because I wanted to give the students two days with the wet clay.  I've been waiting to have a full kiln to fire (for the rest of the Egyptian artifacts).  Both classes will be finished with these by Friday, so that means they will be dry enough to fire by Monday...  I ended up rolling out 5 slabs for each class.  It was enough for everyone to cut out what they needed to start.  I kept all of the extra rolled out slabs stacked in between canvas so we can use it next time instead of wasting it.

I pulled out the texture rollers so that they could give their faces some interesting texture.  We also poked some holes so that we can later add some pipe cleaner curls for hair.  I concentrated on making sure the students knew how to score and slip really well, especially since they didn't roll out their own slabs.

The first step we took was to cut out an interesting, organic shape for the head.  Then, we made a long snake coil and made a profile line of a face down the center, like Picasso usually has in his artwork.  Then I asked them to start cutting out different shapes to make the eyes, nose, mouth, etc.