Let me start by giving credit where credit is most certainly due: Casey saved my ass today. I went to drop off Olga's schedule this morning and mentioned doing clay, and she asked what I was doing. I didn't really want to talk about it - I didn't want advice at 8 in the morning, but if she hadn't suggested making the slabs for the children ahead of time, I think this lesson would have flopped. Fo rizzle.

This unit in Year One is building toward making a sculptural relief of the students' houses. We looked at different examples last week, and they made a sketch for their plan, and that is what they used today to draw their house into the clay. I made things much simpler, and the groundwork - how to use tools, how to work the clay with your hands - we'd laid last week, so I feel pretty good about today.