ceramic lesson plans: slab masks

 (Ceramic slab masks by elementary students in an art exhibit)

Title: Ceramic Masks

Topic: learning to work with clay, sculpture

Goals & Objectives:

• Students will model clay with control.
• Students will build upon past knowledge in order to craft an original, three-dimensional artwork.
• Through observation, investigation and discipline, students will create an art object demonstrating the use of the elements and principles of design.
• Students will use ceramic vocabulary when referring to the processes of shaping clay objects.

GLEs:

Strand I: Product/Performance for Sculpture, Ceramics, Other Media

A.2. Select and apply three-dimensional media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas and solve challenging visual art  problems.

Grade 4 - Build or layer materials to create a relief, Apply a variety of paper folding techniques, Modeling with clay or a similar material;,Make organic forms

Grade 5 - Combine simple forms to create a complex object/form (in-the-round), Use paper joining techniques such as tabs and slits, Modeling with clay or a similar material:, Build a form using a coil techniques

Strand II: Elements and Principles – Form

C. 1. Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork.

Grade 4 - Identify and demonstrate relief sculpture, Identify and use organic form

Grade 5 - Identify and use the illusion of form: cube, sphere, cylinder, and cone

Strand I: Product/Performance for Subject Matter: Fine Art

A.3. Communicate ideas about subject matter and themes in artworks created for various purposes

Grade 4 - Portrait: Create facial features in correct proportion, Exaggerate, distort, or simplify features to create an abstract portrait

Grade: 4^th and 5th

Length of Class Period: 55 min.

Frequency of Class Period: once a week

Time Needed: three class periods

Facility & Equipment Requirements:

• One computer lap top
• Room with good lighting
• Large tables, approximately ten, each seating four students
• Two sinks
• Dry erase board
• Drying racks
• Cabinets for storage
• Projector for viewing computer video, CDs and DVDs
• Kiln for firing ceramic masks

Resources Needed:

Mask diagram for whiteboard.

•     Tips for beginning potters by Murry's Pottery. This video collection is appropriate for very young students. Murry shows basic techniques, child appropriate language, kind voice, secular presentations, excellent visuals and explanations. (15 videos)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5O2mJELhRg&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
•     Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
•     Power point about masks from many different cultures
•     Sample for the chalkboard/interactive whiteboard

Materials Per Student:

• Both a large and small paint brush
• A selection of tempera paints in egg carton, one carton per four students
• Glitter glue
• A large container of water, one per four students
• A paper towel
• Amount of clay approximating the size of a tennis ball +  one half of a second tennis ball per student is used for the modeling of this object
• A variety of clay printing and modeling tools (wood chips, shells, pencils, clay stamps, etc...)
• Each student will need one burlap placemat to keep his/her working space clean and also to prevent clay from sticking to their counter space while he/she works
• Every table will need a large wooden rolling pin
• Additional trims such as: feathers, beads, sequins, chenille wire

Vocabulary/Terminology:

1. pinch - to form clay between the fingers and the palm
2. coil - a rope-like formation of clay
3. slab - a evenly rolled or pressed layer of clay
4. bisque - is clay that has been fired but not yet glazed
5. ceramics - are objects created from stoneware, porcelain or terra cotta
6. clay - soil, water and sand
7. fire - is the name for the heat that is used in a kiln
8. glaze - a glass paint used on pottery
9. kiln - a special oven used for hardening clay
10. greenware - pottery that is not yet fired in a kiln
11. leather hard - the hard condition of clay when it is almost air-dry
12. score - roughen the clay's surface so that a bond may be formed between two surfaces
13. sculpture - a three-dimensional art work
14. slip - a liquid clay used to glue two pieces together
15. texture - press into the clay surface with objects to create a pattern, design or rough surface

Motivation- Looking and Talking Activity: The teacher will demonstrate the following methods for creating a drape bowl before the students begin.

Step-by-Step Studio Activity Specifics:

1. Sketch out a design for a mask on 8 ½ x 11 inch typing paper.
2. Fold your drawing in half and choose the better side of your design to cut.
3. Cut out the paper design for your mask from this scratch typing paper. This will be the pattern you use to trace around later.
4. Roll out a large slab gently and slowly from the ball of clay the teacher gives you onto your burlap placematt.
5. The slab measure an even, smooth depth of approx. ½ inches and be large enough for you to trace your mask pattern onto.
6. Trace with a pencil or toothpick around the paper pattern on top of the clay slab.
7. Cut out your mask design using a plastic knife.
8. Remove the excess clay from around the mask shape. Don’t forget to also cut out the eyes, nose and mouth holes if you have drawn any of these out for your design.
9. Add clay details by first scratching the surface and then dripping water into those scratches before pressing clay details onto your clay masks’ surface.
10. Your teacher will then lift your mask and place it properly on a sheet of glass, plywood etc... for drying.
11. After the masks have been fired in the kiln once students may paint them with bright tempera paints.
12. After the paint has dried, students may add odds and ends to their masks to create texture and interest. The teacher will need to be in control of the hot glue gun in order for this to be done properly.

Special Needs Adaptations:

Modifications for the hard-of-hearing or deaf student:

• Student will be seated closer to instructor so they will be better equipped to hear instructions or read lips
• Student will be provided with written instructions so that they read about the discussions and demonstrations
• The instructor may use a amplification devise provided by the school or student’s parents

Modifications for the student with limited vision or blindness:

• Students will be allowed to observe samples of art projects with their hands and for extended periods of time
• Students will be provided with safe tools and one-on-one guidance during a demonstration of the project
• The project may be slightly adjusted to accommodate the student’s limitations or for safety reasons
• Student will be given ample time to exist classroom before large crowds gather outside of the classroom.

Modifications for students with mild brain injury:

• Students will be provided with duplicate instructions for home and school. Student will not need to remember to carry home materials to review.
• Students will be given ample time to exist classroom with a pre-determined aid or peer before the official end of a class.
• Instructor will provide for parent e-mail communication concerning the progress and needs of their student.
• Student may be given special seat assignment in order to enable his participation in class appropriately. Specific peers may be better equipped to articulate projects visually for this student.

Health & Safety Concerns: There are no health and safety concerns for this project.

Cleanup Time & Strategy: Students will be instructed to put away art materials neatly in their containers, clean off their tables, and recycle their trash two minutes prior to dismissal.

Assessment: The teacher will grade the studio assignment and worksheet according to a rubric included with the standard grading charts of the district.

A slab butterfly mask made by my younger child. This one was glazed not painted.

all articles and lesson plans are copyrighted 2011 by Grimm

ceramic lesson plans: animals

Above are clay animals by young students.

Title: Ceramic Animals

Topic: learning to work with clay, sculpture

Goals & Objectives:

• Students will model clay with control.
• Students will build upon past knowledge in order to craft an original, three-dimensional artwork.
• Through observation, investigation and discipline, students will create an art object demonstrating the use of the elements and principles of design.
• Students will use ceramic vocabulary when referring to the processes of shaping clay objects.

GLEs:

Strand I: Product/Performance for Sculpture, Ceramics, Other Media

A.2. Select and apply three-dimensional media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas and solve challenging visual art  problems.

Grade 2 - Manipulate paper to create low relief (e.g., curling, folding, tearing, and cutting), Modeling with clay or a similar material:, Roll coils: flatten material into a slab

Grade 3 - Manipulate paper to create forms (in-the- round), Cut a symmetrical shape from a folded piece of paper, Modeling with clay or a similar material:, Create applied and impressed textures

Strand I: Product/Performance for Subject Matter: Functional Art

B. 3. Communicate ideas about subject matter and themes in artworks created for various purposes

Grade 3 - Create a container (e.g., paper box, clay pot, fiber basket)

Strand II: Elements and Principles – Form

C. 1. Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork.

Grade 2 - Identify and use geometric forms: sphere, cube, cylinder, and cone

Grade 3 - Identify and demonstrate sculpture-in-the-round

Strand II: Elements and Principles – Texture

D. 1. Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork.

Grade 2 - Identify and use actual texture

Grade 3 - Identify and use invented textures

Grade: 2^nd and 3rd

Population: At Ellisville Elementary School there are approximately 100 3^rd graders and 100 second graders. 90% of these students are white and 50% of them are female. Approximately 5% of the students in both grades is African American and the remaining 5% is either Asian, Hispanic or Indian (from India).

Length of Class Period: 55 min.

Frequency of Class Period: once a week

Time Needed: 3 class periods

Facility & Equipment Requirements:

• One computer lap top
• Room with good lighting
• Large tables, approximately ten, each seating four students
• Two sinks
• Dry erase board
• Drying racks
• Cabinets for storage
• Projector for viewing computer video, CDs and DVDs
• Kiln for firing ceramic animals

Resources Needed:

• Download the Mexican folk art article from hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/outreach/pdfs/mexican_folk_art.pdf
• Power point based upon the article from the Hearst Museum

Materials Per Student:

• Both a large and small paint brush
• A selection of glazes in egg carton, one carton per four students
• A large container of water, one per four students
• A paper towel
• Amount of clay approximating the size of a tennis ball per student is used for the modeling of this object
• A variety of clay printing and modeling tools (wood chips, shells, pencils, clay stamps, etc...)
• Each student will need one burlap placemat to keep his/her working space clean and also to prevent clay from sticking to their counter space while he/she works

Vocabulary/Terminology:

1. pinch - to form clay between the fingers and the palm
2. coil - a rope-like formation of clay
3. slab - a evenly rolled or pressed layer of clay
4. bisque - is clay that has been fired but not yet glazed
5. ceramics - are objects created from stoneware, porcelain or terra cotta
6. clay - soil, water and sand
7. fire - is the name for the heat that is used in a kiln
8. glaze - a glass paint used on pottery
9. kiln - a special oven used for hardening clay
10. greenware - pottery that is not yet fired in a kiln
11. leather hard - the hard condition of clay when it is almost air-dry
12. score - roughen the clay's surface so that a bond may be formed between two surfaces
13. sculpture - a three-dimensional art work
14.  slip - a liquid clay used to glue two pieces together
15. texture - press into the clay surface with objects to create a pattern, design or rough surface

Motivation- Looking and Talking Activity:

•         Tips for beginning potters by Murry's Pottery. This video collection is appropriate for very young students. Murry shows basic techniques, child appropriate language, kind voice, secular presentations, excellent visuals and explanations. (15 videos)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5O2mJELhRg&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Step-by-Step Studio Activity Specifics:

Special Needs Adaptations:

Modifications for the hard-of-hearing or deaf student:

• Student will be seated closer to instructor so they will be better equipped to hear instructions or read lips
• Student will be provided with written instructions so that they read about the discussions and demonstrations
• The instructor may use a amplification devise provided by the school or student’s parents

Modifications for the student with limited vision or blindness:

• Students will be allowed to observe samples of art projects with their hands and for extended periods of time
• Students will be provided with safe tools and one-on-one guidance during a demonstration of the project
• The project may be slightly adjusted to accommodate the student’s limitations or for safety reasons
• Student will be given ample time to exist classroom before large crowds gather outside of the classroom.

Modifications for students with mild brain injury:

• Students will be provided with duplicate instructions for home and school. Student will not need to remember to carry home materials to review.
• Students will be given ample time to exist classroom with a pre-determined aid or peer before the official end of a class.
• Instructor will provide for parent e-mail communication concerning the progress and needs of their student.
• Student may be given special seat assignment in order to enable his participation in class appropriately. Specific peers may be better equipped to articulate projects visually for this student.

Health & Safety Concerns: There are no health and safety concerns for this project.

Cleanup Time & Strategy: Students will be instructed to put away art materials neatly in their containers, clean off their tables, and recycle their trash two minutes prior to dismissal.

Assessment: Fill out the formal scoring guide included below according to age appropriate standards.

all articles and lesson plans are copyrighted 2011 by Grimm

a doodle portrait lesson plan

Title of Lesson: A Doodle Portrait
Goals of the Lesson: (goals are long-term aims that you want to accomplish)

Teacher sample

1. Students will be able to use storytelling/writing and listening to help created a definition of a community.
2. Students will  able to identify their own community through art activities and classroom discussion.
3. Students will able to appreciate positive aspects of their own private and public heritage.

Objectives of the Lesson: (concrete attainments that can be achieved, measurable)

• Students will use the projects to learn the importance for the community.
• Students will be more aware of the advantages and disadvantages of a community.

Depth of Knowledge:

• Recall & Reproduction (DOK 1) - Recall facts, terms, concepts, trends, generalizations and theories
• Skills & Concepts/Basic Reasoning (DOK 2) - Describe or explain how or why
• Strategic Thinking/Complex Reasoning (DOK 3) - Recognize and explain patterns
• Extented Thinking/Reasoning (DOK 4) - Analyze and synthesize information from multiple sources

Show Me Standards: (appropriate label & description)

• (VA2) FA2 - Artists communicate ideas through artworks by selecting and applying art elements and principles.
• (VA3) FA3 - Viewer's respond aesthetically to artworks based upon their personal experience and cultural values. Viewers analyze, interpret, and evaluate the quality of artwork through art criticism.
• (VA5) FA5 - Visually literate citizens understand the role and functions of art in history and culture. Artists influence and are influenced by the cultures and time periods in which they live.

GLE’s addressed in lesson: (appropriate label & description)

• EP.1.B.5 Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork. Shapes. Identify and use symbolic shapes.
• AP.1.A.5 Investigate the nature of art and discuss responses to artworks. Aesthetics. Discuss and develop answers to questions about art, such as: Who decides what makes an artwork special, valuable or good?
• HC.1.B.5 Compare and contrast artworks from different historical time periods and/or cultures. Characteristics of Artworks. Compare and contrast two artworks on: Theme, Purpose of art in culture, and Use of materials and technology.

Cross-curricular connections:
     Standards: (appropriate label & description)

1. ST - CA 4, 1.8, 2.1 and FR - II 6d, III 4c, IV 3f, 5-8
2. ST - CA 5,6 1.5 and FR - I 2h, IV 1d, K-4
3. ST - CA 2,3 1.1, 1.4 and FR - I 2a, d, III 1d, K-4
4. ST - CA 5 1.5 1.7, 2.7 and FR - I 6h, II 5 f & I, III 1j, 3a, K-4

GLE’s For Communication Arts: (appropriate label & description)

1. Writing. 3.A.5 Write effectively in various forms and types of writing. Narrative and Descriptive Writing. Write personal narrative text that chronicles a sequence of events and/or focuses on the development of a single event.
2. Listening and Speaking. 1.A.4 Listening and Speaking. Develop and apply effective listening skills and strategies. Listening Behavior. Demonstrate listening behaviors (e.g., prepares to listen, listens without interruptions, maintains eye contact.
3. Information Literacy. 1.A.4 Develop and apply effective research process skills to gather, analyze and evaluate information. Research Plan. Formulate and research keywords and questions to establish a focus and purpose for inquiry.
4. Information Literacy. 2.A.4 Develop and apply effective skills and strategies to analyze and evaluate oral and visual media. Media Messages. Identify and explain intended messages conveyed through oral and visual media.  

Time Needed: 45 minutes - 55 minutes
Facility & Equipment Requirements: We will be teaching the following project inside of a regular classroom. Students will need their own small, personal space to complete the project. If a computer is available we will have a slide show prepared for the students to watch. Samples of the project will also be brought in case there is no appropriate way to view the power point.
Resources:

• A power point called, "Doodle Time."
• All of the previous lessons will be stapled inside of the book covers so that students may take their class projects home at the end of day six and share these with their family.
• Large Word SMACK map for game
• Two newly purchased, unused fly swatters

Materials: (size, type, & quantity per each student)

• one sheet of white, heavy 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock
• one sheet of white 8 1/2 x 11 typing paper
• felt tip inc markers (multiple colors)

Vocabulary:

1. Community - A social group of any size whose members live in a specific place and share a government, have a common culture and also share in a historic heritage.
2. Storytelling - To convey events through words, images and sounds.
3. Inheritance - Any attribute, idea, or possession passed from a family member or community member to another member of their family or community.
4. Genealogy - A successive generation of blood kinship.
5. Tradition - An inherited pattern of thought or action that is actively repeated within a family or larger community.
6. Symbols - Images that represent ideas, persons, places, or actions to more than one person inside of a given community. 
7. Celebration - A joyful occasion commemorating a special event.
8. Neighborhood - People who live near each other.
9. Role Model - Someone who is worthy of imitation.
10. Socialization - Behavior patterns of the surrounding culture.
11. Fractur - A decorative letter form from a 16th century typeface, often used by early German immigrants to craft family documents.
12. Doodle - A doodle is an unfocused drawing made by a person whose attention is otherwise occupied.

Health & Safety Concerns: There are no health and safety concerns for this lesson because the students are using supplies that they normally keep stored in their desk. Pencils, pens, crayons, sissors and white glue all come with ingrediant labels that describe these supplies as "safe." Our students are also older so we believe that most of them have been taught not to throw or abuse these supplies. We do however, watch them carefully to insure they are not using their art materials in a dangerous way. 

Things to Consider:

1. The teacher will select the topic of "Community" in order to teach older elementary students to observe important qualities about themselves, the people around them and the greater goals of their society.
2. The following lesson is the sixth lesson in a series designed teach young students about the concrete characteristics of their own community and the communities of others. This specific lesson is used to introduce a familiar subject, "doodling" to the students.
3. If a teacher is concerned with helping his students socially engage each other through drawing games, he then may choose to teach these principles in the following lessons.
4. Cross-Curricular Connections between Communications and the Arts are used in this particular lesson. Teachers should observe and plan to assess both of these subjects in terms of the lesson.
5. The game resources supplied here are used liberally by many people across the internet. These ideas are shared but the written instructions are copyrighted by their respective authors.
6. Teachers should gather all of the lessons conducted and completed by participating students and staple these together between a back and front cover to create a student "Scrap Book."
7. If there is a special needs student participating during this lesson, the teacher should make adaptations for his/her needs in advance so that the project will move along seemingly unaffected by other students present in the classroom.

Step-by-Step Activity:
    1.Teachers enter the room quietly and smile at students.
   2.The art teacher will quickly and quietly upload the power point "Doodle Time" to the smart board.
    3.The teacher will pull down the screen used to display power points to the classroom
    4.The teacher will stand at the front of the classroom and proceed to capture the attention of her classroom by whatever means the homeroom teacher uses to draw the attention of her own students. This could be a hand signal or a word of caution, the homeroom teacher will inform the art instructor of her preferred method prior to the beginning of the class.
   5.The teacher will introduce his or herself to the students with a big smile and a loud audible voice.
    6.The teacher will then geet the class.
    7.The teacher will then briefly review what the previous lessons were in the Community unit lesson
    8.The teacher will ask the students if they know the meanings of the vocabulary terms previously discussed.
    9.The teacher will introduce the power point and it's purpose
    10.The teacher will flip through the images and ask the students the following questions:

• What kinds of things are these children drawing?
• How do the patterns and symbols represent the community this young artist comes from?
• Think about the patterns and shapes you see here. What are the repeating shapes?
• Why do you think these students choose to repeat particular colors in their drawings?

    11.With the ending of the power point presentation, the screen is returned to it's proper storage place.

    12.The teacher hands to each student a "Scrap Book" containing all of their previously drawn pages.

    13.The teacher then instructs the students to remove their drawing pencils and colored pencils from their desks quietly and wait patiently for instructions.
    14.The teacher will then proceed to tell the students they may decorate the covers of their books with doodles representing the ideas covered during their community projects. The following shapes, patterns and colors should be included on the cover of their scrapbook:

• Use at minimum - three colors
• repeat at minimum - three patterns
• Include at minimum - three shapes inside each pattern
• Make some lines thick and some lines thin
• Include a drawing of yourself!

    15.The teacher will instruct the class to put away their drawing tools and remain quiet for the closing questions, if time permits the game of "SMACK" will be played.

• The teacher will hang the large sheet of butcher paper on the board so that all students might be able to reach every portion of the paper with an arm extended.
• The teacher will divide the students into two equal groups and line them up parallel to each other in front of the board. This is a relay race formation.
• Then each student at the front of the line will be supplied with a fly swatter. The teacher will read aloud the following questions and the first students with fly swatters will "smack" the word answer when they find it. As soon as they have done so they must then pass the fly swatter to the next student standing in line.
• The teacher will read aloud the second question and the next team will proceed to search for the answer and smack the correct vocabulary word.
• The game will progress thus until all of the vocabulary questions have been asked.
• The team with the most correct answers wins!
• The teacher will review the vocabulary for the unit lesson about Community by asking the following questions aloud of his/her students.
• What is a social group of people who live in a specific place, share a government and have a common culture? (community)
• This means to share information about words, images and sounds? (storytelling)
• What is a thing, tradition or culture passed down from a family member called? (inheritance)
• Remember when you drew your family tree? This was a picture showing your family connections. We call this a what? (genealogy)
• If you inherit a pattern of thought or action and it is repeated within your family over and over, what might we call this? (tradition)
• Illustrated images that represent ideas, people, places, or actions are called? (symbols)
• An unfocused drawing that rambles around a page is called a? (doodle)
• What is a decorative font from early 16th century Germany called? (fractur)
• The behavior patterns in our culture are called? (socialization)
• Some person who is worthy of imitating is called a? (role model)
• People who live near us live in our? (neighborhood)

   16.After settling the students down and instructing them to return to their seats, the teacher should ask them to wait patiently for their homeroom teacher to begin their next lesson.
    17.The teacher will quietly and quickly remove the "Smack" game from the board and leave the room.
Cleanup Time & Strategy:

1. Teacher will collect all students work and put on a shelf in the classroom.
2. Teacher will have all put materials in proper boxes.

Assessment: Through observation and class discussion at the beginning and end of each class period the teacher determines whether or not students comprehend the assignments. The teacher looks and listens to see if all students respond with affirmative expressions/language and completed assignments.

all articles and lesson plans are copyrighted 2011 by Grimm

ceramic lesson plans: coil pot

Teacher's sample of a coil pot.

Title: Ceramic Coil Pots

Topic: learning to work with clay, sculpture

Goals & Objectives:

• Students will model clay with control.
• Students will build upon past knowledge in order to craft an original, three-dimensional artwork.
• Through observation, investigation and discipline, students will create an art object demonstrating the use of the elements and principles of design.
• Students will use ceramic vocabulary when referring to the processes of shaping clay objects.

GLEs:

Strand I: Product/Performance for Sculpture, Ceramics, Other Media

A.2. Select and apply three-dimensional media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas and solve challenging visual art  problems.

Grade 4 - Build or layer materials to create a relief, Apply a variety of paper folding techniques, Modeling with clay or a similar material;,Make organic forms

Grade 5 - Combine simple forms to create a complex object/form (in-the-round), Use paper joining techniques such as tabs and slits, Modeling with clay or a similar material:, Build a form using a coil techniques

Strand II: Elements and Principles – Form

C. 1. Select and use elements of art for their effect in communicating ideas through artwork.

Grade 4 - Identify and demonstrate relief sculpture, Identify and use organic form

Grade 5 - Identify and use the illusion of form: cube, sphere, cylinder, and cone

Grade: 4^th and 5th

Length of Class Period: 55 min.

Frequency of Class Period: once a week

Time Needed: two class period

Facility & Equipment Requirements:

• One computer lap top
• Room with good lighting
• Large tables, approximately ten, each seating four students
• Two sinks
• Dry erase board
• Drying racks
• Cabinets for storage
• Projector for viewing computer video, CDs and DVDs
• Kiln for firing ceramic coil pots

Resources Needed:

Diagram for rolling coils to be projected on a white board.

• Tips for beginning potters by Murry's Pottery. This video collection is appropriate for very young students. Murry shows basic techniques, child appropriate language, kind voice, secular presentations, excellent visuals and explanations. (15 videos)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5O2mJELhRg&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
• Sample diagram for the chalkboard/interactive whiteboard 

Materials Per Student:

• Both a large and small paint brush
• A selection of glazes (I like Ceramic SpeedBall Glazes) in egg carton, one carton per four students
• A large container of water, one per four students
• A paper towel
• Amount of clay approximating the size of a tennis ball per student is used for the modeling of this object
• Each student will need one burlap placemat to keep his/her working space clean and also to prevent clay from sticking to their counter space while he/she works
• A pencil for scoring the clay

Vocabulary/Terminology:

1.  pinch - to form clay between the fingers and the palm
2. coil - a rope-like formation of clay
3. slab - a evenly rolled or pressed layer of clay
4. bisque - is clay that has been fired but not yet glazed
5. ceramics - are objects created from stoneware, porcelain or terra cotta
6. clay - soil, water and sand
7. fire - is the name for the heat that is used in a kiln
8. glaze - a glass paint used on pottery
9. kiln - a special oven used for hardening clay
10. greenware - pottery that is not yet fired in a kiln
11.  leather hard - the hard condition of clay when it is almost air-dry
12. score - roughen the clay's surface so that a bond may be formed between two surfaces
13.  sculpture - a three-dimensional art work
14. slip - a liquid clay used to glue two pieces together
15. texture - press into the clay surface with objects to create a pattern, design or rough surface

Motivation- Looking and Talking Activity: The teacher will demonstrate the following steps before the lesson begins.

Step-by-Step Studio Activity Specifics:

1. Roll the moist clay ball between your palms.
2. Use your thumbs to make a shallow dent no deeper than ½ inch into the clay ball.
3. Remove your thumb and insert it again into the shallow hole slowly and push deeper into the clay ¼ inch.
4.  Remove your thumb and insert it again into the hole slowly pushing deeper into the clay approx. ¼ inch deeper.
5. Remove your thumb.
6. Hold the clay ball with your left hand if you are right-handed or with your right hand if your are left-handed.
7. Insert your dominant hand’s thumb into the hole and wrap your four remaining fingers over the top of the clay ball. Keep these fingers together and pinch with your thumb on the inside of the hole towards your fingers. This will make the interior wall of the clay ball thinner as you gently turn the ball while pinching slowly. Teachers can demonstrate this movement also at this time by using a plastic, transparent cup to show students what they can only feel (not see) while pinching into clay. See photo just above Step-by-Step for reference.
8. Once the hole is widen enough to fit both of your thumbs into it, switch to pinching with both hands simultaneously. Wrap both sets of four fingers around the clay ball and continue to pinch and turn until your ball looks more like a pot. (The teacher may refer to this step as “driving a car” for very young students.)
9. Once the walls of the pot are an even thickness, (approx. ½ inch) shape the bottom of your pot by gently tapping it on your desktop to form a flat surface.
10. After forming your pinch pot, roll a variety of “snake” shapes. Some of these may be spun around into coils.
11.  Roll tiny balls too.
12. Scratch and drip water into the edges of these spirals, balls, and snake shapes before gently pinching them together to form additional height on top of your pinch pot.
13. After the coil pot has been fired, students may glaze three coats of every color at the very least in order to properly cover ceramic pots.
14. Try not to apply glaze to the bottom surface edges of footed pots if it can be helped.
15. Students may later glue a circular felt round to the bottom of their ceramic pieces to avoid leaving scratches on furniture.

Special Needs Adaptations:

Modifications for the hard-of-hearing or deaf student:

• Student will be seated closer to instructor so they will be better equipped to hear instructions or read lips
• Student will be provided with written instructions so that they read about the discussions and demonstrations
• The instructor may use a amplification devise provided by the school or student’s parents

Modifications for the student with limited vision or blindness:

• Students will be allowed to observe samples of art projects with their hands and for extended periods of time
• Students will be provided with safe tools and one-on-one guidance during a demonstration of the project
• The project may be slightly adjusted to accommodate the student’s limitations or for safety reasons
• Student will be given ample time to exist classroom before large crowds gather outside of the classroom.

Modifications for students with mild brain injury:

• Students will be provided with duplicate instructions for home and school. Student will not need to remember to carry home materials to review.
• Students will be given ample time to exist classroom with a pre-determined aid or peer before the official end of a class.
• Instructor will provide for parent e-mail communication concerning the progress and needs of their student.
• Student may be given special seat assignment in order to enable his participation in class appropriately. Specific peers may be better equipped to articulate projects visually for this student.

Health & Safety Concerns: There are no health and safety concerns for this project.

Cleanup Time & Strategy: Students will be instructed to put away art materials neatly in their containers, clean off their tables, and recycle their trash two minutes prior to dismissal.

Assessment: The teacher will grade the studio assignment and worksheet according to a rubric included with the standard grading charts of the district.

Teacher's sample of coil pot as seen from above.

Coil pots on display at a student exhibit.

Coil pot up close at a student exhibit.

 all articles and lesson plans are copyrighted 2011 by Grimm