Week 4 and 5: Six Techniques of Clay/ Pinch Pots

For this lesson, the students began by learning about various clay items that can be made by reading the The Potter. The students were able to see different techniques that she used to form her clay ware, which led us to the clay techniques worksheet.
The worksheet consists of 6 techniques that I find are the most important to be able to create sculptures and pots. After a teacher demonstration, the students had to show on their own techniques such as making balls, coils, pinching, poking, flattening (slab), and stretching. They would raise their hands and show me that they completed this before having several minutes exploring the clay independently.
The second period, the students learned about how to make a pinch pot. Again, this is only an intro to clay and not a unit!(Success builds confidence!) They incorporated the techniques from the previous day such as ball, poke, pinch and coil.  While the clay was still soft, they were shown how to add texture with a pencil by twisting the eraser side for dots, and carving line and shape with the sharp point.
The third period, the students were given a demonstration about using lines, shapes and pattern with their colorful paints! This reinforced our recent paint intro week, and the colors were very vivid!
Finally, the students were asked to write about the experience using vocabulary and techniques that were required to complete the project. We made a list together of materials, decoration, texture and techniques. Enjoy and have a great week!