favorite for this grade level! The characters in Percy Jackson and the Olympians are inspired by the gods, heroes,
and monsters of Greek mythology and
the Greek collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For those who
have not yet experienced the Rick
Riordan series,
there is a wonderful podcast
available from
the Met about
Percy Jackson
and the Lightning Thief.
As students
shared their understanding of mythol-
ogy, they also developed an under-
standing of how one can gain a better
view of society and a culture through
its arts.
Creating a Greek Artifact
After building their understanding of
Greek pottery, students were ready to
create their own. We planned on using
red clay with black glaze for detail
work and clear glaze to seal the pot.
Each student referred to the examples
of Greek pottery
shapes found
on the British
Museum website
which I posted to
the whiteboard,
drawing their
own designs in
their art jour-
nals. They each determined the shape,
the position of the handles, and the
patterns to paint on its surface.
From this design, students each
created a pinch pot with added coil
handles. They added bases using
another coil or two and scratched the
surface of the clay using a clay tool,
using the sgraffito method to add
designs to the pot. After names and
class codes were added to the bases,
the pots were allowed to fully dry
before firing.
Once the pots were fired, students
used black glaze to add finishing
touches to the surface of their pots.
They glazed the entire pots with clear
glaze and I fired them once more. We
then exhibited our works in the school
display cabinet for all to enjoy.
As students shared their
understanding of mythology,
they also developed an
understanding of how one can
gain a better view of society
and a culture through its arts.
Samantha Melvin teaches fourth and fifth
grade fine arts at RJ Richey Elementary in
Burnet, Texas. artteaches@hotmail.com
NATIONAL STANDARD
Students demonstrate how history,
culture, and the visual arts can influence each other in making and studying works of art.
WEB LINKS
www.carlos.emory.edu/PDF/3rd_
passport.pdf
www.metmuseum.org/podcast/detail.
asp?read=all&eid=epNum068
www.carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/
GREECE/ welcome.html
blantonmuseum.org/interact/
greekvases
www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks
www.ancientgreece.co.uk/knowl-edge/story/ sto_set.html
