Art in 3-d for elementary classes

Last week we made our Fourth Grade Red Clay Maps of Georgia! We have done this project for many years, and it is big but it runs pretty smoothly. Students work with thier Social Studies teacher to label and cut out a paper pattern of the state of Georgia. Then they come to my art room, and we spend a period on a simple slab clay project, rolling out the clay and using the paper pattern to cut out the state. Sometimes the Social Studies teacher stays to help or to make a map.  Students label the map and add mountains and textures for the swamp, and draw the rivers and label them. Some students add people or animals drawn with a sharp tool or pencil. Holes to hang the map are essential, and we make sure they go all the way through. Name and class on back complete the project. In a few weeks I will have fired them in the kiln and every fourth grader will take home a Georgia Red Clay Map.

This provides a different way for students to think about the geography and geology of their state. As we talk about the clay, and that it comes out of the ground in Georgia, many students tell about the clay they have found at home in the yard, or at camp or at the lake. I always offer to fire the things they make from this clay, and occasionally a student brings in something they have made.