Clay!

My first graders have been working on a special surprise for their parents for Valentine's Day. Clay pottery! We spent one week making the pinch pots with Crayola air dry clay and by the time they came back the next week, the bowls were dry and ready to paint.  This is my first time using water colors to paint air dry clay and I have to say, I love it. I'm never going back to acrylic. (See my post from a few weeks ago about how to use liquid watercolors without all the hassle.)

This year, I came up with a new system to keep up with which piece belongs to which kid. Last year, I carved or had the kids carve their initials into the bottom before it dried. Disaster. Total disaster.  

So this time, I planned ahead. I have these old drawing board that I don't use (but probably should).

I laid them out, three per class because I have three tables per class. I put pieces of tape with each child's name on the board at their table.

They put their pot on their name. Simple as that.

The following week, the board were at their tables with their pottery, they grabbed them, painted them, and put them back.

And then the next week, I got out all the boards, wrapped each bowl in a small piece of newspaper and taped it up and wrote the names with a sharpie.

It took a lot of my prep time every day to prepare the boards and then wrap the bowls. But for me, it was totally worth it to not have the chaos of trying to decide if those initials are HB or MP.

Plus it helped me keep up with who was absent when we made the bowls. If they weren't there, they wouldn't have a bowl on their name tape. And that was a lot easier than listening to a kid who wants to tell you that he really did make one that so and so stole his bowl.

What about you? How do you keep up with your students' pottery or other three-dimensional work?

Kelsey

My favorite watercolor trick

If you're like me, you hate those little trays of watercolor cakes. They're the worst. Yes, I use them from time to time and every time I feel like it's just so wasteful. They're so easy to ruin.

I much prefer liquid water colors. But they require so much more prep. You have to squirt however much paint of each color in a palette for each kid.

But this week, I found a better way to do it. On Monday, I made the palettes, two wells of five colors because my first graders would be sharing them among two kids. They painted their clay pots and then returned the palettes to the counter. Instead of rinsing them out, I left them over night. They dried up for the most part. Some of the wells had more paint left than others so some had a little bit left in the morning.

I simply added water to each one and voilà, ready to use again. 

Tuesday's group used them, put them back, I added water, and so on an so forth. It's the best part of watercolor trays and liquid watercolors all rolled into one! 

For comparison, today I had to make a few new palettes today. On the right is all new paint and the left is paint from three days ago with water added. It really doesn't get overly watered down. 

What do you think? Would this work for you? Am I the last art teacher in the world to figure this out?