Archive for December, 2008
Downhill in Kindergarten
Thursday, December 18th, 2008With three school days left until Winter Break, my kindergartners are “losing it.” I was feeling bad, thinking that it’s my fault that they are less self controlled; thinking that it’s because I am getting crabby and it’s making them crabby. But when several enter the class saying crabby with each other, I think that it’s something bigger than me. I’m not so sure that things get better after an hour in my room, so that’s frustrating.
There are only two more kindergarten classes before break and we have things to do that must be done before break. In January, I’ll try to start fresh with them. An hour is a long time to be in art. I think that when they come back, I’ll lead them through a lesson and then not teach anything else. I will give them art “free choice.” Blocks. Tangrams. Drawing. Whatever else I can think of in that vein.
Thinking with a Line
Sunday, December 14th, 2008
These kindergarteners are printing patterns on a grid.
Preschool Clay
Saturday, December 6th, 2008Fridays are interminable. I have five classes of four different grades with five different media. The preparation and clean up for all of that is exhausting. Yesterday I had kids printing, glazing pottery, working with clay, drawing, and weaving. I remember sitting for only short periods of time, and spending lots of time hunched over the sink, washing. Last night my brain was numb and my back was tired. Most of the rest of the week, my schedule is good, and I am happy with it. Fridays are just tough.
Enough kavetching.
When I last saw my preschoolers they spent their time exploring with clay. I talked a little about clay, but mostly they played. They pinched it, smashed it, rolled it, and built with it. The idea was to get familiar with it a bit. Most kids played abstractly with the clay but there were a couple of representational pieces.
When they were done, the clay went back in the clay bag with the promise that in the next class they would make something they could later keep.
Yesterday they made “elbow pots.”
To make these, they pressed their elbows in the middle of a big ball of clay. Some little ones had trouble pressing hard enough into the clay, so we had to help them push. They then took texture stamps and pressed them into the clay to create designs.
These were pretty thick, so I might need an extra week to let the pots dry before firing them. After that I will let the kids glaze.
I think that these look better than the pinch pots the kindergarten and first grade make. Pinch pots are the starting points for a lot of other clay pieces though, so I will continue to teach that.