Friday, May 25, 2007

Blog –May 23, 2007

Today we were visited by a group of sixty students from Readfield Elementary School, who were studying different types of soils. They were given a guided tour of our pottery business and also treated to a slide show of last year’s clay dig. After Molly and Sam demonstrated how we make pots and ornaments here at the pottery, they were given cat ornaments to decorate, which we will fire and deliver to them. They were a delightful and very well-behaved group of students, and this is the second year that we have hosted them. Last year they each got to cut out ornaments, and we gave them finished ones when they left.

We find that this type of activity makes them more aware of local resources that they are often unaware of, and, at the same time, gives them an opportunity to appreciate what it is like to own and operate a small business. Who knows? Some of them may end up as future employees of Wayne Village Pottery!

As many of you know, Molly has for many years taken Wayne Elementary students out to our island, Black Sand Island, in Lake Androscoggin, and taught them a unit on local flora and fauna. It’s a unit that they all enjoy, especially since it comes at the end of a long school year, and involves a trip out on the lake on a sunny June day. Again, we have found that this type of activity increases their awareness of the world around them and teaches them about places that they may know little about. It also gives Molly a chance to teach them about respecting property and sharing resources with those who may not be as lucky as we are to own our own island.

Our involvement with the community, particularly in an educational setting, is a means of giving back and saying thank you to the townspeople that support our small business here in Wayne.