On a Mission

So my 3rd graders have spent the past month, or two haha, working on a super exciting project.  It was inspired by this ceramic mission project that I did when I was in 6th grade,

but I decided to combine it with the idea of a luminary for the holidays.

The students worked from slabs of clay, to create the walls and floors of the missions.  This took about 2 classes, with the front and back walls on day one, and the floor and sides on day two.

My 3rd graders are advanced this year, so they had no problem diving in and assembling on their own, I double checked the seams and reseals any cracks as they turned them in, but you may want to give an additional third day to focus on pure assembly if you feel the clay will hold up for that long, cause it was a bit crazy!

After Thanksgiving it was time to give them their first bake in the kiln.

They held up well! 

Then the students used Mayco Element glazes to paint for a natural coloring.

I was so excited to see the final results, I mis-set the timer on my kiln and they only half -baked!

But after round two, the glazes matured,

and the end results are so beautiful!!!!!