Saturday, May 12, 2018

Gathering and Processing Clay in 2nd!

 The Dragons got to trek into the forest and hunt for a clay pit using a topo map!  They loved discovering the pits and digging in to find pockets of beautiful red and white clay.  It was a blast.  Important note: we had a permit to dig up the clay! 

Here are a few on our hike up the hill... they were searching for signs of clay.   It was a great way to notice the different qualities of earth,  This bit definitely had clay and mica, but also sand.

Keep scrolling to see pictures of Lightning Hawk's Aunt Gertrude visiting our class to help us process the clay.  She is so knowledgeable and, thankfully, patient.  We couldn't have done this without her!  























Awesome game thanks to Germaine from Fit Taos... Here are some Dragons arranging themselves as sand particles.

....and as clay particles!

Water running through sand.

It's harder for water to squeeze through clay!


After the clay dig we split up into small groups to enjoy the mountains!


Talking about the Big 3:  Food, shelter, and water.  Here are the Dragons trying their hand at shelter with Aaron from Fit Taos.  








On Thursday, Lightning Hawk's Aunt Gert came to our classroom to help us process the clay.  It was awesome!



Each kid got to process the clay they dug.  Here they are creating a slip with clay and water and fishing out all organic material and rocks.








Gert was amazing!









It was fun and messy.



Gert showed us some of her beautiful micaceous creations.



She brought in clay that was fully processed and ready to use so that we could see what we were aiming for.  It got a bit silly.

Gert pit fires her pottery.  We may use a kiln.  This is what happens if a little pebble remains in the clay and it's fired.

 Thank you, Gert!

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

May-hem in 2nd Grade!

May is cray cray, but we're keeping busy with our play, recycling program, selling milkweed seeds, and practicing pyramids.  Pyramids are a great way to introduce right, acute, and obtuse angles!