June

Percy Print

Some Kindergarten classes created Percy the Porcupine, a character from a Children's Book, Perfectly Percy, by Paul Schmid. Percy loves balloons, but rather than give up on balloons that his spikes pop, he figures a way to enjoy them.  

Students drew Percy, then either stamped his spikes with paint, or drew them with markers learning the design principle of repetition. They drew a horizon line to separate sky from ground, painted clouds with a paint stick and  and added a colorful balloon held by Percy with a piece of yarn. 

Clay Cupcakes

Second graders learned the difference between 2D and 3D as they sculpted cupcake forms with Model Magic Clay. To make the bottoms, students had to master the making of a small pinch pot by first rolling a ball, pushing a thumb into it and pinching their fingers together until a small pot was formed. 

Icing tops were created by rolling a long coil and then stacking it in a progressively smaller circle. Small balls for cherries top the cupcakes which were embedded with beads for sprinkles, painted with tempera colors, and sealed with Mod Podge to mimmick a glossy ceramics work of art. These little cupcakes have a secret compartment where tiny treasures can be saved..  

Clay Sculpture

Our bilingual fifth grade class experienced a unit of sculpture using paper clay. They practiced key clay techniques including pinch pot making, coil rolling, slab construction, and the score, slip, smooth method of connecting pieces together. They were also exposed to sculpting using an armature, covered with foil  prior to being covered with clay, a much more complex practice. 

Students were then challenged to sculpt something of their choice as a work of art using the techniques in which they felt most proficient.  The results were varied just as our students!