3rd Grade

Pinch Pots

All supplies needed are available in packets. Email me rwardwell@alpinedistrict.org if you did not receive a packet.

We are learning : how to manipulate clay to make a pinch pot and to appreciate how early civilizations made pottery.

So we can: become more familiar with how clay behaves, how a kiln works and appreciate how older civilizations made pottery.

I know I've got it when: I've created a properly formed pinch pot.

Here is some history of pottery with clay. click the link below with Professor Carr

Pottery has been around a long time. It's good to learn about clay not only to create, but to understand the history of it to appreciate it. I hope you can try it for yourself to see that it's not easy at first, but it can be fun to manipulate into different shapes. It can also be useful and have a purpose just like hundreds of years ago when it was used for carrying water, holding food, or other important storage needs. Today, many things are still made from clay, like your plates, or mugs.

WHILE Watching the video (below) of this teacher teaching about the process of a pinch pot, think:

*Is the clay soft? Hard? Sticky?

Notice how she uses her hand to cradle the clay to keep it's curved form.

*Does her thumb go all the way through the clay to the other side?

*How thick does she say the clay should be? Thick as a pencil? a finger? Don't go to thin or it won't hold itself.

When she starts pinching with her thumb and fingers, think of chomp the shark and chomping the edges with your thumb and fingers to squeeze the walls to make it all even.

*Remember, if you feel like you messed up, just squish and roll it back into a ball and start again.

If it feels like it's getting dry, dip your fingers into water to smooth all the cracks out.

Once you have the final shape, carve your initials somewhere and set it aside for a few days to dry. Hopefully you can bring it back into school to show me your progress and I can fire it in the kiln.

How to Make a Simple Pinch Pot - Teaching Clay to Elementary Students - Episode 9 .mp4

THINK...

*What happens once the clay dries entirely? What would happen if you got it wet?

When it dries, it is just hard dirt. If you get it wet, it will eventually turn back into mud. Long time ago, before there was electricity, people saw this problem and learned they needed to add extreme heat to change or fuse the dirt.

*Without electricity, how could they get high heat?

Fire is all they had, so they had to build a closed off area to keep the heat in so it would get super hot. These structures are called KILNs. Some examples of early day kilns are pictured on the right.

Today

Fire isn't used much anymore. We have electricity like in our ovens at home. Difference between our ovens and a kiln would be how much hotter a kiln can get.

A kiln can get as hot as 2,000 degrees F,

your oven at home can only get as hot as 500 degrees.

We are very lucky to have a kiln in our school. I hope to show you our kiln. If you are able to finish your pots, with your initials on them, I hope I can get them "fired" in the kiln before the end of the school year.

Glaze

Once a pot is baked in the kiln, or fired, its hard like a rock. Now what would happen if you put water in the fired pot? It won't turn to mud, but the water would slowly soak through the pot and drip down. It's called porous, meaning it still have small spaces for water to pass through. So a glaze needs to be applied.

Ceramic glazes are like paint for pots. It protects and seals fresh pottery, making it both useable and beautiful. There are all colors of glazes, just like paints. The difference is, glaze will "melt" and change when put back into the high heat of a kiln, creating a glass finish. After being glazed, the pot is no longer porous. No space for water to go through.

Here are some pictures of glaze on pots before the kiln, and then the change when it's done. Colors can change.

Early Kiln inventions

Kilns Today - no fire

Cities and Communities

We are learning: about different communities. Big city vs our city and how big city buildings, shapes and lines create a city scape.

So we can: see the differences and similarities of big city and smaller cities; become more aware of our own communities.

I know I've got it when: I can explain how our city differs from bigger cities, and have created a proper city scape with shapes and lines connected.

Look at the pictures

Describe what do you see in these big cities? What features?

What is different in these big cities to our city of Saratoga Springs? Think of a few things.

Now, what is similar? Does our city have the same things these big cities have? Do they have parks? Police? Streets? People? Places people call home? Schools?

Pictures of big cities

Pictures of Saratoga Springs

Different cities may look unique in their own ways, but really they have many of the same things we do in our city to be a community. We all need homes, outdoor space like parks, we all need places to learn like schools, we need rules or laws when there are a lot of people and have different opinions and police to help keep people following those rules. So many differences and so many similarities.

Now, Notice the outlines of these cities. What shapes do you see? What lines? Trace the tops of these buildings with your finger against the sky as if you are cutting the sky away from the buildings. What kind of shapes and lines are you making? squares, triangles, diagonals...?

Draw

Using paper and pencil, draw a rough draft of an outline of a city scape. Remember the shapes and lines. Maybe add some windows... square or rounded ones. Make sure the shapes are touching each other with no spaces between; all tight together like the big city. Make sure there is space for a sky, but the lines go all the way down.

Next, you will use this rough draft to draw the city scape on styrofoam. Use a ball point pen to create impressions of lines on the styrofoam. Then cut out the sky from the building. Use a washable marker to cover the buildings. One squirt of water. Watch videos for more info. I'd love to see what you create, bring them back to school if you can.

IMG_0378.MOV

Watch video. Draw a city scape

IMG_0379.MOV

IMG_0380.MOV

Take a picture and share your work with me at rwardwell@alpinedistrict.org or @amateurart44 (optional)

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