Art and music will come alive for third-grade students at Arrowpoint Elementary School during the school’s Winter Wonderland Concert on December 13 at 6:00 p.m.
As the students perform the song, “We Will Jingle,” they’ll be playing instruments they created in art class – clay bells.
Patti Hornberger, art teacher, and Martha Seibel, music teacher, worked together to give the students a chance to use their finished bells. The bells took three class sessions to complete.
“The students have been very excited about seeing the transformation that takes place from soft pliable clay to the fired pieces that are their bells,” said Hornberger. She noted that the project involved several curricular objectives. “To be successful, they learned the processes to form clay over molds, roll and shape coils, create texture, and use scoring and slip to attach pieces.”
After the bells were fired and cooled, the students painted them with two layers – a thin, watery blue layer followed by a thick, shiny silver layer. The bells are imprinted with designs and the artist’s name is carved on the side.
As the children painted, they concentrated on covering the entire surface of the bell, working carefully to fill in every tiny space.
Classmates Sophia Black and Jaidyn Cutts have plans for their bells after the concert.
“I’m going to give my bell as a Christmas present,” said Black.
“I’m going to hang it on my Christmas tree,” said Cutts.
“The connection between forming their own instrument and being able to use them in our winter concert has brought a high level of engagement and anticipation,” Hornberger said. “The students maintained a high level of focus and self-discipline to learn and complete their clay project.”
Jaidyn Cutts adds a layer of silver paint to her clay bell during art class. The
bell will become part of the third-grade class performance during the Arrowpoint
Elementary School holiday program.