Students made their own clay designs in 5th grade (in addition to the clay roses we did at the beginning of the year.)

I’ve set a goal to complete a grade level per month so it’s not a mad dash in May to fire and glaze their clay projects.

However, that didn’t happen this year. I was up on the weekend with the kiln. No fun, but I’m so proud of the 5th graders and their designs.

Because we probably wouldn’t have time to get it fired and then re-sorted and passed back to the fifth graders before the end of school, we tried something different this year. I bought some gloss Apple Barrel paint and positioned it as a wonderful alternative so no one was disappointed.

The selling point was that if you work quickly and efficiently, you can paint it and take it home the same day. To my surprise, the kids said they liked it better than glazing. Painting clay instead of glazing it means one less firing for me and lots of budget money saved with paint versus glaze purchases. So glad to have discovered this!

I’m extra pleased with my students since they worked super hard during a historically weird time of covid. Nice job!