March 22, 2012

Teapot Tea Party

I'm a little tea pot,

round, tall, short, wide, crooked, smooth, 

and totally UNIQUE. . . 


Getting ready to be fired!
You know that feeling before you pilot a new lesson? It's that same feeling I get before jumping off the diving board. Since the beginning of this lesson, I held my breath and hoped that we would surface. Five weeks later we did and now I can breath again!

Kiln full of teapots.
Hassle Alert! We had to wrap the teapots every week and try to keep the clay at the right consistency. Keeping the clay moist between classes was a hassle and a few dried out. The students had to remake them! 
MORAL:Invest in some huge gallon bags for each student instead of plastic wrap. 

Basically we created two pinch pots and combined them together. We made a "taquito"for the spout and slip and scored it on. Handles could were coils that were slip and scored. Lids were an experiment in themselves.

After five long weeks of making them, I threw the kids a tea party so we could USE our teapots.



Is this not amazing?

Another beautiful work.
This student accidentely spilled the glaze on her  teapot.
Her classroom teacher suggested she "go for it"and spill more.
It turned out the most uniquely beautiful work I've seen from a 5th grader!
We put a coffee filter over the top with a rubber band
so the loose leaf tea wouldn't
get in their cup.

As I was pouring the hot tea on this 80 degree day,
 I thought, "I  have NO IDEA why I didn't make a bunch of iced tea and call it a day!"
SPOILERALERT:
NEXT YEAR'S  5th grade is having an ICED TEA party!

Enjoying our "naturally decaf"tea
(just in case you were wondering!)



I am in love with this one too!
For some reason the student doesn't like this one. . .

An elephant. . . how clever:)


Some even made tea cups.
This tea pot was perfection.


After a LONG day in the office (hahaha)
Stella and I put on our play clothes and went to the dog park.

As Alice would say, "I shall think nothing of falling down stairs after this!" It's good to take that step into the unknown. . . scary but good. I think they won't soon forget their 5th grade teapots.

I know two things for sure,
1. I learn as much as the students I teach.
2. I am as "mad" as they come!

CHEERS!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Erica you sure go the extra mile for your students and I guarantee they will never forget their teapot experience! This project fit you to a "T" (pun intended......:))

:)Pat

Unknown said...

hahaha Love it PAT!

Katie Morris said...

So cool! I like the black one, too. It always baffles me when students don't like awesome projects. I guess it just turned out different than they wanted. The best thing I ever made out of clay was a slab built tea pot. Though it shrunk more than anticipated and could probably only hold about a cup of liquid if I ever tried to use it.

I'm jealous that you get to make FUNCTIONAL clay pieces. My principal was all pumped up and determined to get a kiln before next August... then it got denied at the district level. So we're stuck with air dry until we can try again in a few years.

Unknown said...

Katie when I got there, this beautiful $3,000 kiln had never been used! I had no idea how to use it. . . but I just tried! I cannot believe how lucky I am. You will appreciate yours when you get it. The kids favorite projects are the clay projects. The other day I called a parent and she said, "did my son make that pinch pot in your class." People really connect with clay. There is something special about your child making their first pinch pot with their tiny hands.

Barbara's Thought of the Day said...

Loving your tea pots today Erica. A real skill builder for sure. Did you glaze the pots inside and out? They look great.
Barb

Phyl said...

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout"... I guess that describes me to a "T" or should I say TEA? (oops that was Pat's joke)

OK enough juvenile attempts at humor; these teapots are fabulous. I love that they can actually USE them!!

On the Mad Hatter's tea party theme - next you should make little teacakes, and table settings to go with the teapots. And a dormouse too.