Writing...with Clay

Today students had a rare opportunity to work with clay in our classroom. They each had 3 different colors to work with. I gave them very vague instructions; they had to create something using the clay. They sure had a lot of comments and questions!! I gave them about 10 minutes to create their piece. After that they had to add something, take something away, and make a change to their piece. Next they had give their creation a title. Finally we discussed compliments and how to give a GOOD and meaningful compliment. Students had the opportunity to go around the room and compliment each other's creations.

Some of you might be asking why we did this. Well...I tied it to writing in 2nd grade. Yesterday we read a book about what the steps that authors have to go through when they create a books. We will go through similar steps here in 2A. We discussed that good authors are not happy with their first copy. They need to change, add, and take away things from their writing pieces. So, hopefully as my second graders are grumbling at me and saying they don't want to make changes to their writing pieces they will think about their clay project. Hopefully they will remember that all good authors make changes before they publish their final writing piece.

Here are some pictures of the students creating their pieces and of the final product.

Happy writing 2nd graders!!