(Editor’s note: This is the next installment of our “Pascack Period Tour” series designed to give our readers a taste of the array of offerings during Pascack Period this year.)

Located in room 142, Mrs. Jessica Miranda has returned with her famous hands-on Mud Room Pascack Period. The period is for the entire year and is in both A and B sessions.    

“I am the ceramics teacher, so I wanted to open up this class for students who weren’t able to get ceramics into their schedule,” Miranda said.

The students in the class will be introduced to clay by making small objects like jewelry and eventually working their way up to creating larger things. Also, as the year progresses, they will be exploring different cultures, such as Greek and Italian, through their pottery. 

Miranda has been teaching this period ever since the Pascack Period program started. She has been educating students on ceramics for about twenty years.

The class contains a small group of girls that are mostly beginners. Some, though, have taken ceramics in the past and decided to take this period to work on more advanced projects such as ceramic pumpkins for Halloween or mugs and bowls.

There are all different tools to design the pottery the students make, like knives to cut the design into.

With the kiln right near the room, the pottery is easily heated and given back to the students within a few days or a week from when they had finishing creating it.
Miranda said that if the student has good craftsmanship, then that student will make good pieces.