I was feeling very adventurous my first year of teaching and decided to do a clay project with all of the early elementary grades. My very patient and very generous principal at the time let me use the empty class room across the hallway as a storage room for all the projects (Thanks Mr. Zampini and Mrs. Cooney…sorry for the paint I got everywhere!!). I used the kid’s lunch trays (washed) as storage. Not wanting to do the typical pinch-pot intro to clay project, I changed it into a pinch-pot “monster” project where we would use the pot as an open mouth we could add details to. I also allowed the students to use colorful wire for added effects. They turned out absolutely hilarious!
Challenge: When parts weren’t attached right they fell off, or monsters broke in half when they got dropped. I had a “monster hospital” where I would super glue monsters back together.
MS. BELLIZZI 