Third grade studies native Californian populations including our indigenous Kumeyaay peoples. These gatherers subsisted largely on acorns, plants, and small game in and around San Diego long before Cabrillo arrived.
To honor their amazing pottery, or oyas, our students created their own pottery. We began our work by studying the hammer and anvil technique that the Kumeyaay use to craft their pottery. We saw how clay is made traditionally, using soil from the earth and ashes in combination. Then, after learning about classic coil-technique pottery, we crafted our own. Key concepts included the ideas of scoring and slipping the joints and manipulating the clay with attention to thickness and moisture content.
After the pottery was fired, designs and color choices were selected in reference to the Kumeyaay. The symbolism of a red sun over a stylized boulder patch might be anchored by a background of brown, reflecting the need for the black oak acorns. This kind of abstraction of thought helps students not only in visual arts but in thinking through literature and social studies.
The pots certainly turned out to have their own character, while still referencing and reflecting the students' studies of the Kumeyaay people. Well done, third grade!
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