But, in the meantime, I would like to give you a little update!
First, as soon as I returned from TAEA I prepped my clay to begin Clay Birds with 1st Graders! Thanks Cassie Stephens for a fantastic lesson! This lesson took me 3 (45 min) class periods.
Cassie Stephens Clay Birds
Preping my clay:
I made myself a slab cutter from some scrap 2"x4" I had in the garage from a recent project (bunk beds for my son). I used the eye hooks as a tightener and 20 gage wire. I think in the future, I will use a more flexable wire. This is very stiff and heard to wind and work with.
I strung a center wire to cut my slabs in half. I cut up a cheep dollar store plastic table cloth into rectangles to place between the clay slabs and put 20 into a bag. I did 8 bags for 12 bags to accommodate myself and about 200 students with a little extra just in case.
Day 1: We constructed our birds. This was a learning experience for both myself and the 1st graders. Next time I will do a trial run with play dough before we dive into real clay.
Day 2: We used the tempera cakes to paint our birds. This worked fine until it came time to "glaze".
Day 3: We used Mod Podge to "glaze" our birds. Again, this was a learning experience. Next time I will dip the birds into a Mod Podge bath and hang dry. Painting smeared the tempera paint and caused some birds to change colors as the tempera mixed with the Mod Podge. OR... I may just use acrylic paint....uggghhhh....maybe not..We are talking about 1st graders!
