Grade 4 completed a unit on Japanese art that included Gyotaku fish printing, calligraphy practice including how to write their names in Japanese (putting my 2 years of college Japanese to use!), and creation of these beautiful tea bowls. They learned a little bit about the traditional tea ceremony, then made three pinch bowls that nest into each other as small, medium, and large. When they were fired they painted the bowls with underglaze, then dipped them into a clear overcoat.

Clay work by Grade 5: we practiced hand building with coils. The pottery was finished with a ceramic stain to highlight the coils, and glaze inside to add a splash of color!