Face Pots, 5th Grade

 

Face pots are my favorite 5th grade clay lesson!  They turn out amazing every year. 

Students begin this lesson by creating clay pots using slabs. (I have my students make their own slabs. We do not have a slab roller).  Students then add details like eyes, nose and mouths. We also discuss the importance of scoring/slipping to make sure all the pieces stay connected.

These are amazing! There is also a great History Detectives episode that explains the history of face jugs.  I often show this video to my students at the beginning of this lesson.  

Face Pots, 5th Grade

This is one of my favorite lessons every year.  Students use the slab technique to create face pots.

To introduce this lesson, we always discuss the history of face pots in America.  PBS has a great episode of History Detectives, all about face jugs.  I always begin by having my students watch this video,  https://www.pbs.org/video/history-detectives-face-jug/

Students then create their own face pots by using slabs and coils.  I always emphasize the importance of scoring and slipping.  This is the first year that I have not had a single eye ball fall off the pots.  I guess they listened well this year.

After firing, students glaze the pots.  I always tell them to use at least 3 coats of glaze.  I love these this year!

Clay Faces, 5th Grade

A few weeks back, I posted about my students' clay pots, but at that point the pots had not been glazed.  Here are the final results.

 As I mentioned in my previous post, these pots were made using the slab technique. All details were added using the score and slip method.   Before creating these pots, my students watched this History Detectives video.  It really is a great introduction to the history of face pots. 

Face Pots, 5th Grade

My fifth graders have been working hard on their clay pots in the last few weeks.  To begin, I showed my students this History Detectives Video, by PBS, to introduce the history of face pots.  This video explains how face pots can be traced back to African Americans during the mid 1800's.    

 I then taught my students how to create a clay pot by making slabs.  Students added details to their face pot, and I taught them to score and slip all added pieces. 

These are looking great so far.  After these are out of the kiln, we will be glazing them.

Black History Month Art, 3rd Grade

 The public library contacted me a few months ago, and asked me to have my students create artwork for black history month.  This is what they created, and now it is on display at the library.

 I found the idea for this lesson at http://learn.michenerartmuseum.org/2011/02/an-over-and-above-lesson-for-students/.  I adapted the original lesson to fit a younger audience, and to fit the black history theme.

Students began by painting a self portrait on the top portion of their paper.  Students then had to choose a famous quote from an African American to display on the bottom of their paper. Overall, I  think these turned out wonderful!

Masks, 5th Grade

I have done this lesson many times, and students always love it.  I begin by showing students examples of Native American masks.  Students then create a animal, monster, or alien mask to represent their alter ego.  This year my students had to write an artist statements to explain their work.

Paper Mache Totem Poles, 5th Grade

This art lesson was done in collaboration with the fifth grade classroom teacher.  A few weeks ago, a fifth grade teacher came to me and asked if I would be willing to create large totem poles out of oatmeal containers he collected.  I immediately loved the idea, but I only see my students for 30 minutes once a week, so I knew I would need his help on this one.  In order to accomplish this large project, the classroom teacher taught the students about the history of totem poles prior to coming

to art class.  He also was kind enough to stay in the art room and assist during the art lesson. This was very helpful, as paper mache is difficult to pull off in short 30 minute classes.   

This totem pole lesson took us 5 (30 minute) art classes to complete.  Students began with an oatmeal container and used cardboard, bottle caps, and paper towel rolls to create an animal.  Once this was created, students covered the entire thing with paper mache.  Lastly, students painted their creation. 

Once each animal was completed, I attached them together to create one large totem pole. The fifth grade teacher then had each student write a short essay about their work.  I think the results are amazing!

5th Grade, Egyptian Pharaohs

 This was a very popular lesson with my fifth graders.  We created Egyptian Pharaoh sarcophaguses after discussing the history and art of Egypt.  These were drawn with oil pastels and painted with tempera paint.

Ships, 3rd Grade

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I try to integrate art into the core subjects as much as possible.  In fact, it is actually in my job description.  When I heard that my third graders were reading stories about voyages, I just had to do an art project on ships.  For this lesson, I let my students choose any kind of ship; pirate, viking, pilgrim, Greek, etc.  However, most of my students wanted to do pirate ships.

 Students began by creating a ship out of construction paper.  I also gave the students an option of creating a sea monster.  After the ship and monster was created, students painted their background.  For this, I gave my students blue and white paint.  Once the background was painted, students glued their ship to their paper.  Overall, this was a simple project, but the results are rather fun!

Face Pots, 5th Grade

 I have done this lesson several times with my students.  It is always one of my favorite art lessons.  We begin this lesson by creating a coil pot.  Once the coil pot is created, students add details to create a face on their pot.  Some students do an animal face, while others do a human face. 

 Unfortunately, we do not have the time or the money to glaze these pots. I thought about having them use tempera paint on them, but I decided that the clay was pretty enough on its own. 

I just love how each pot is different!

Viking Ships, 5th Grade

 These Viking Ships were made by my fifth graders.  My students used tooling foil and a wooden stylus to create an embossed Viking ship. When this was finished, students added black paint, which was gently rubbed off to give it an old antique look.

I think these turned out very nice. 

Mexican Bark Paintings, 3rd Grade

I've seen this lesson posted on many blogs in the past. Most recently I found it on MaryMaking. These paintings were done on crumpled up brown paper, to mimic the look of Mexican bark paintings.  Traditional bark paintings were painted on bark which had been boiled in water and beaten until smooth.

 Students drew their drawings in crayon first.  Then, we crumpled the paper to give it the look of bark.  Lastly, I gave my students tempera cakes to paint their paper.  This lesson was done in quick one hour class.

Ships, 3rd Grade

 My third graders have recently been studying Explorers in Social Studies.  They have been studying everything from Vikings to the Pilgrims, so I thought this would be a great time to do an art lesson on ships.  I got the idea for this lesson from Deep Space Sparkle.

 This lesson was a lot of fun.  First, I had my students paint the water with blue and white tempera paint.  While the paint was still wet, they used a fork to carve waves into the paint.  Next, students used construction paper to make their ships (small details were added with oil pastels). 

 Lastly, my students drew and cut out a sea monster.  This was my favorite part of this lesson.  I just love the creativity of my students. 

Viking Ships- 5th Grade

When I heard that my fifth graders were learning about the Vikings in Social Studies, I thought it would be a great time to do a Viking ship lesson. These Viking ships were done on tooling foil. After creating the design on the foil, we added a bit of black ink, which we gently wiped off with a paper towel. This made our drawings look antique. Finally, we glued these to a black piece of paper and painted designs in the border with metallic paint.
I think these turned out nice.

Totem Poles, 5th Grade

My fifth graders have recently been studying Native American culture in history class, so I thought it was time to create Totem Poles again. Last year, I did this same project with my students. It was such a success, I decided to do them again. Each child made one piece of the totem pole. When hung, we have several large totem poles.

Covered Wagons, 2nd Grade

Recently, the second grade teachers asked me to come up with an art project related to the Oregon Trail. This is what I came up with. The wagons are made of milk cartons, which are cut in half. We painted the carton with brown tempera paint. The cover to the wagon was just a piece of paper, which we slid into the carton. I let my students decorate the wagon covers with crayon. I know, the real pioneers did not have colorful wagons, but I decided that the wagons would be more fun this way. The wheels were just made out of poster board and glued to the wagon.
I usually try to stay away from "crafty" art projects, but I couldn't help myself on this one. They are really cute.

Cowboy Boots, 5th Grade

Recently, my fifth graders have been reading stories about the "Wild West," so I thought this was the perfect time to create cowboy boots in art class. Judging by the wonderful results, I think my students enjoyed being "boot designers."
I began this project by showing my students lots of examples of cowboy boots. Cowboy boots come in many different styles and designs. I found many great examples of cowboy boots by just doing a search in Google. To create our cowboy boots, I had my students first draw their boot in pencil. After everything was drawn, they then outlined with a black crayon. Lastly, we used liquid watercolors to add color. This was a very simple project, but the results were quite wonderful. I definitely wish I owned a pair of cowboy boots (especially if they looked like one of these).

Viking Ships, 3rd Grade

This week I have had my third graders create these really fun Viking Ships. Students first drew in pencil and then outlined everything with black crayon. I then had my students use liquid watercolors to paint their drawings. I even handed out gold and copper watercolor paint for my students to use.
Overall, I think these boats turned out wonderful. This was the first time I have ever used the metalic watercolor paints, and I really love them. I am sure I will find many uses for this paint in the future.