3rd Grade Clay – Lesson Plan

COIL POTS

Materials:

• 1 pound of clay (course white)
• Freezer paper for a work board
• Plastic knives
• Large cool whip containers
• Moist paper towel to cover up chunks of clay, and to moisten fingers

Making Clay Project: (Day one)

1. Demonstrate for the students how to make their coil pots.
2. Tell the students that they need to roll a piece of clay with the palm of their hands on the table until it is about “pinky” width and about a foot long.  They can use the tip of their fingers to their elbow as a general guide.  They do not need to measure exactly because it is not necessary that all the coils be exactly the same length for the pots to work.
3. Emphasize that they should roll them gently otherwise the coils will flatten on the table instead of remaining round.
4. When the coil is long enough and the right thickness, have the students use their knives to trim the ends of the coil to make it uniform.  Have them now roll the long tube of clay into a coil.  Make sure that they gently pinch the clay together as they roll it up so that you don’t have any spaces between the coils when it is completed.  They should then smooth the end of the coil down to complete the circle.
5. The students will need between 10 and 17 coils to make their pots.  Have them place the coils in the cool whip container as they make them beginning with the bottom of the container first.  As they put more coils into the container they need to really push them together tightly so that they do not break apart when dry.
6. The students can manipulate the shape of their coils to fill the spaces in the container.  Small spaces can remain in the container.  When the pot is completed the students should make sure the coils are attached very tightly.  The sections that do not look tight can be smoothed from the inside of the pot.  It is also an option to smooth the entire inside of the pot.  You can give the students bowls of water set on the table (small amount will do) to help with this if the clay or their fingers are getting to dry at this point.
7. if the students do smooth out the inside of their pot, you can assure them that they will see the coil design on the outside when the pot is completely dry and we remove it from the container.  The pot cannot be removed from the container when it is wet.  There have been a few students who have tried this over the years and they had to remake their entire pot.
8. If the students have time and if they wish to do so, they can add a twist braid to the top of their pot for decoration.  Make sure that they leave room for this because the pot gets too big if the braid is higher than the container edge, and there is a greater chance that it will break off when it dries.
9. Have the students or volunteers write the student’s first name, date, and the teacher’s initial on the pot with a toothpick.
10. I cannot stress enough the importance of checking over all the pots when they are done to make sure that they are assembled tightly.  If they are not tight and smoothed out in seamed areas on the inside they will break when they dry.  Please remember to use the course white clay for this project instead of the fine white clay.  The fine white clay is much more fragile when it dried and will break more easily.

Glazing Project: (Day two)

The Grade Level Coordinator and the Clay Coordinator will fire all the clay projects and have them ready for the glazing class at the end of the month.

1. Grade Level Coordinators will schedule all classes to glaze on the same date. Each class will come in for 30 minutes with a 15 minute turnover time between classes.  Have each teacher request extra volunteers on this day.
2. Cover tables with plastic. 
3. Put a small amount of glaze in a plastic bowl.   Have colors available on each table for the students to choose from.  Have 2 or 3 brushes at each color.  The brushes should stay with only one color.  Switch to the next color’s brush if adding another color.  Apply 2 layers of glaze.  
4. Glaze over the name and date
5. If a clay piece is cracked, use extra glaze in that location to strengthen it.
6. Please return any extra glaze to its container.
7. After the students complete their glazing, the adults will coat the project with a clear glaze.