The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science created this resource as part of an online workshop series, but you are welcome to use or modify it for your classroom. It includes a video and written directions for creating nature journals and tips for incorporating them into your classroom. For information on taking any the Nature Neighborhood online workshops for CEUs or EE credit, visit: https://naturalsciences.org/learn/educators/online-workshops.

There are endless methods for decorating pottery, from the forming stage through final glazing and beyond. The students will explore decorations on various pottery pieces from different cultures. They will look at carved and painted designs as well as printed symbols and pictures that adorn the outer surfaces of pottery forms. We will also discuss how the designs relate to the individual cultures; expressing feelings, telling stories and following traditions. The students will also make a personal connection to their own pottery form and explain their individual connections and meanings through designs for their pottery (scratch art design). This lesson was developed by Belinda Coston as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, the students will examine a variety of pottery forms; discuss their meanings, functions, and the different cultures that created them. This lesson will explore ways that pottery characteristics can give clues about how the forms were used in the past and their value based on the cultures that created them. We will also include the pottery made by the students in the first class to compare their choices for form, function and discuss if their ideas were influenced from their past knowledge of pottery. We will discuss, compare and critique each group’s responses. This lesson was developed by Belinda Coston as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.