more clay creations

We are spending the month of January working with clay. Sometimes this medium really lends itself to integrating into the lessons as with the plant parts for the kindergarten. Each student got a 3x5" note card as a base and a ball of salt clay. We discussed plant parts and drew a plant on the board then they were off. Each was to include all the parts on their plant remembering to include roots and seeds. They are pretty good at the proportions on these. When the plants were completed we used washable markers to color them with pretty great results.

The 1st grade created a 3D map with most of the correct elements. We had a discussion of which would be on a map and which would not. The volcanoes, train tracks, roads and rivers would. Trees might although not in as great of detail as some of the trees acquired. People and animals would not appear. They completed the project by giving it some color using water color boxes. It was a bit messy but turned out well. This is a different clay than we used in the past made with cornstarch as I was given a 50# bag of it.

The 2nd grade is studying landmarks so we created replicas of several of them using the soda/cornstarch clay, chenille stems and toothpicks. We determined that Mt. Rushmore was going to be too hard to create but Natural bridge, Washington's monument and a few others fit the bill. The monuments never had such color before though!

Lastly the 3rd grade got to add a bit of color to their vertebrates from last week using watercolors. They were really great creations and the color was just what they needed. 

Using paper to create trees and other plants

The 2nd grade got to make fall trees from brown paper bags and tissue paper and what great trees they turned out to be! They had to follow rather complex instructions and get their tree branches in balance but it worked out well. We tried this with younger groups before and it was very difficult for them. It is great when the kids feel accomplished at the end of their projects.










The 1st grade was studying plants so we used paper strips, tissue paper and a bit of fuzzy yarn to create a flowering plant complete with seed pods and seeds (fennel) worked great and were visible. We practiced twisting the paper to make a "squashy blossom" and a few buds. Interestingly, critters also appeared in the form of bees, caterpillars and what seems to be ants. Never know where paper will lead a creative mind.






The kindergarden group got to draw a tree then fill it in with paper strips and tissue paper leaves. Of course giving them colored paper punch got lots more color into our trees. We have been working on cutting and gluing skills this month with most of the projects while trying to make the skills interesting to practice. Not sure what fall tree has pink leaves but she was very precise in the design with a dot in the center of each tissue piece.

1st grade illustrates the parts of plants

The 1st graders have been studying plants so we did a collage of materials to create plants then labeled the parts. We used fuzzy yarns for the roots and added pipe cleaner stems, leaves, seeds, berries, and seed pods from a hibiscus and tissue paper flowers to complete the project. The students learned how to twist the paper to make a blossom with a contrasting center. The yarn provided a good discussion on what roots look like. Everyone wanted to be sure the plants had dirt in some manner.