For my Saturday studio observation, I was with Mrs. Snow and her students, who were ages 5-7. Since this was the last week before the exhibition, most students were finishing up projects or adding finishing touches to others. First, I helped Snow mod podge a lot of projects from the week prior. They had made vases out of foam clay and used beads, tiles, etc., to imprint patterns on them. Then, the students were asked to pick out two colors of colored clay to make a frame around their canvas. The students seemed to have a great time doing this, and it was awesome to see their creativity! For the second half of class, they were working on these eggshell and crackle paste teacups and vases that they made! Since they had dried, the students then used gold and blue paint to make patterns. Snow made sure to ask them to recall some of the designs they could use, such as flowers, stripes, zigzags, etc.
I really enjoyed my visit for this class because it got me out of my comfort zone, which would be with students who are around ages 8-13. I think that with younger students, it is important to stick with definitions, repetition, and visuals always. Snow was worried that she messed up the lesson since the students did not understand that a frame only goes on the outer edges of their work, but I think letting the students use their own definitions of a frame made them that much more unique.
