Kindergarten

[ Music ] >> Kindergarten, produced by WHO television for the Wisconsin School of Air.

Your teacher is Ruth Mork.

[ Music ] >> Where in the world did all of this mud come from?

Tuffy, where have you been?

Are you the one who tracked this in?

Grey mud, black mud, and some of this looks like clay.

I wonder what I could do with all of this.

I know this is a case for my what to do box.

I'm going to look in here and see if it tells me that I can do anything with mud.

I'll look under the letter M because that's what mud begins with.

And sure enough, here is a card.

It says mud is like clay.

Clay is better to work with than mud.

You can make many things from clay.

There are four ways of making things.

The first is the pinch method.

The second is the coil method.

And the third is the slab method.

Then it says, "Seach chart number five and call Mr.

Glazer."

Let's see if we can find chart five.

Here it is.

And it talks about pinch, coil, slab, and wheel.

I better call Mr. Glazer and see what this is all about.

Hello?

Hello?

Hello, Mr. Glazer.

This is Ruth Mark.

Well, hi.

How are you this rainy day?

Well, I'm fine except I have a kindergarten full of mud and clay.

Well, I can bet.

Well, what are you going to do about it?

I bet it's a real mess.

That's just exactly why I called you.

Is there anything we can make out of it?

Well, it could be that some of that mud is just about like clay.

So why don't you have the children gathered up?

Maybe they can make some little animals or maybe a little bowl or something.

Well, I do have a picture chart here that tells me something about pinch and coil.

And slab.

Yes.

And also something about a wheel.

Well, you don't have a potter wheel in your kindergarten class, do you?

No.

Why don't you come over and I will demonstrate to you how to make a pot or a potter wheel.

Wonderful idea.

Okay, I'll try the pinch and the coil and the slab here.

And then we'll come over to the studio to see you.

Good.

Fine.

Thank you.

So long.

Bye.

Well, he said I should gather up the clay that's on the floor and we'll see what we can do with it.

First of all, let's try the pinch method.

Now it says here with the pinch method to get a ball of clay and I have that.

And then just pinch it with your fingers and make a ball.

I'm going to use this board.

If you don't have a board like this, you can use a newspaper.

And then the clay doesn't stick so.

You can see right now that I call this the pinch method.

You just pinch it with your fingers.

But this method of clay, working with clay, is a little bit difficult.

You don't have very much control over the clay.

You can see that in places it gets too thin and then it cracks.

But let's look at my ball.

Does it look like the one up in the chart?

Kind of does, doesn't it?

Alright, now I'm going to try the coil method.

Now it says take your hands and roll it out.

It looks like a worm, doesn't it?

And then make a foundation and then I'm going to try and make a cut like that.

[Music] Have you made these before?

Just like making a worm or a snake, in fact you might like the coil of it.

Now I'm going to roll it around here and make the foundation like the chart showed me.

I've been humming a work song that I like to sing when I'm working.

Would you like to hear the words for it?

I'll sing it to you while I finish up making the cut.

Remember as you work, working is a joy and every day the night for every girl and boy.

So wear a jolly smile, be happy all the while.

Yes, working is a joy for every girl and boy.

Please see when you do this, you just keep making coils or snakes if that's what you want to call a worm.

[Music] And just wind it around here.

This is a method that people have been using for many, many, many years.

But it's a slow method.

I'm going to use some of these other coils that I have made over here to finish up this path.

I don't just sing the work song with me while I'm doing it.

Would you like to listen to the words once more and then you'll be able to sing it with me, I know.

Remember as you work, working is a joy and every day the night for every girl and boy.

So wear a jolly smile, be happy all the while.

Yes, working is a joy for every girl and boy.

Now why did you sing it with me?

Ready?

Remember as you work, working is a joy and every day the light for every girl and boy.

So wear a happy smile, be happy all the while.

Yes, working is a joy for every girl and boy.

There, I put a hand on just like the picture showed me.

Does it look like that?

That's the coil method or you might like to call it a snake method.

Now the third method that they talk about on our chart is a slab method.

And I need a rolling pin and I need a pencil.

So let's find that.

Here's my rolling pin.

If you'd like to sing a song to help my...

I work easier for me, fine.

Remember as you work, working is a joy and every day the light for every girl and boy.

So wear a jolly smile, be happy all the while.

Yes, working is a joy for every girl and boy.

Now I need a pencil to cut the shape of the bird.

Should we give them wings and sand a tail.

This is like making mud ties, isn't it?

Roll them out and then just cut it out like this.

And there's our bird.

You need a little beak and let's make a wing's glove.

It's tail glove.

Oh and I forgot his eyes.

There.

There's our little bird using the slab method.

So now you see we've used three methods of making things with clay.

The pinch method we made a ball and we used the coil method to make a cup.

And we used the slab method to make a bird.

Now let's go over and visit Mr. Glazer and have him show us how to make a pot with a potter's wheel.

Hello Mr. Glazer.

How are you?

Just fine.

Children, this is Mr. John Glazer and he's a potter.

And you'd explain your potter's wheel to them?

Well, all I have to do is kick this big wheel on the bottom and it makes this clay go round and round.

Almost like a miracle round isn't it?

Do you want it?

Now when we were making things from clay, we had certain steps that we had to follow.

Do you have the same thing when you use the potter's wheel?

Certainly.

The first step is just getting the clay centered like this.

But before we make anything, let's take a look at some pots behind me.

Did you make these beautiful hanging ones?

No, in front of my amazing.

There's three types of pots.

Sunder?

Round one or a bulb shape.

And open.

That's the kind that was shown on our picture chart.

And I'm going to demonstrate how I make all three.

Oh, wonderful.

Have to keep it wet.

Yes.

When we were using clay, like we just did, do we have to, should our hands be wet?

No, no, it'll get too sloppy.

It's just when the clay moves round and round real fast, you have to have it wet so it doesn't stick to the hand.

I think so.

Okay, first of all, I'm going to start with my two thumbs.

Put them together and plunge it right down the middle.

Now you watch what happens?

All right, we will.

Get some more water.

Can you see that?

What's happening?

Is that hard work?

Oh, it is.

This is why we start because I have to get my hand inside of this clay so that I can push out with this hand and push in with my right hand.

And that's how you make your shape of it.

Well, it starts.

And what happens when the two hands go together?

Something after having the clay has to go someplace, so it's going to go up.

And that's how we get that tall, slumber shape.

And that's what you're going to make first, the cylinder.

Do you see the beginning to get taller?

I notice the wheel is going much slower now.

Well, that's because I applied so much pressure with my hands that it slowed the wheel down.

And I can't kick it all the time.

I just gave it one good kick in the beginning and let it run until it goes slow.

And on this wheel, it's the kind that you do kick with your foot, but there are wheels that are mechanical aren't you?

That are run with a motor.

Yeah.

Something like a sewing machine.

And I see.

And then you adjust it with a lever with your knees or something like that.

So you know, the farm is coming up.

Yes.

All those little lines that you can see, he's making with his hand your kneel.

And his knuckles, too, I guess.

I can't help it, but really, it's kind of like natural decoration, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

Very pretty.

Well, pretty soon we'll be able to make a booby-round form.

You make all of these out of the same path, right?

Out of the same plate.

Out of the same plate, huh?

Well, for now, yes, but, uh, I always, now watch this.

It's going to come out like that.

All right.

And that's because the hand inside is pushing out and the hand inside isn't pushing too hard.

There it comes.

There it comes.

You're working so hard.

I think maybe we should sing our work song and make your job easier.

Would you like us to?

Yeah.

Remember as you work, working is a joy, and every day delight for every girl and boy.

So where a jolly smile be happy all the while, yes, working is a joy for every girl and boy.

That's a nice song.

I could use something like that.

Well, it makes that work much easier.

Oh, you ought to teach that to me.

I'm going to bring this top in a little bit.

All right.

That's by putting pressure with this hand and no pressure with this hand.

Now, when you finish with these, what's the, you let them dry?

Uh-huh, all about a week.

And then what's the next step?

Well, that will have to make them real hard.

So you don't break, you put them in a special fence.

It's like an oven.

And you bake them.

And that's called a kill.

Is that right?

A kill.

And how long are they in the oven?

Over the day.

And then sometimes they are glazed.

All right.

You can put color on.

It's really a thing called a glass.

And you bake that right on the top.

That's a bulb on, isn't it?

Should we make an open door?

Oh, yes.

Okay.

I'm anxious to see how you take it out of the wheel.

I'll do that in a minute.

Lift it up.

All right.

Okay.

Now watch this.

It's going to go fast.

Oh.

That is hard work, isn't it?

It doesn't look so difficult when you just watch it.

It must be.

Does it make you feel like you're on a merry-go-round?

And this goes round and round and round like that?

Yeah.

Oh.

Should we take it off?

Oh, yeah.

How are you going to do that?

With a string.

Can you imagine that?

No, I can't.

It's a real surprise.

Watch it.

Just going to let this string wrap itself around.

And then... Not like that.

Good.

Give it a good blow.

All right.

There.

And it comes off just like that.

May I take this back to the kindergarten?

Sure.

Oh, thank you.

I'm a lovely pot.

Thank you so much, Mr. Glazer, for showing us about the potters wheel.

Thank you for that nice little song.

I'm going to use it.

Good.

Goodbye.

All right.

Now, let's look at all of these things that we have.

Remember, we used the pinch method.

We had a ball of clay and we pinched it with our fingers.

And we made a little bowl.

And then another method for working with clay is the coil method that is like making a snake, isn't it, where you use two hands.

And then we made a foundation and put all the coils one at top of each other and made a cup.

That's another method.

And then another method that is a lot like making mud pies when took a rolling pin and made that piece of clay and then used a pencil and cut out a shape.

Remember, I made this little bird.

And then Mr. Glazer showed us how with this potters wheel to make a lovely bowl.

Now, this is very wet and it has to dry.

And then it'll be put in an oven and it will be a lovely bowl.

Now, who would have guessed that all of these things could be made from the mud on your boots?

Is mud just mud?

[Music]