StM News

After reading A Single Shard in Mr. Keith Schwarz’s sixth-grade English class, students took their learning beyond the page and into the studio. Partnering with Upper School art teacher Allison Thomas, they explored the ceramics process to see the craftsmanship and creativity they’d only imagined in Linda Sue Park’s award-winning novel.

In the story, a young orphan in 12th-century Korea apprentices under a master potter—learning lessons in patience, perseverance, and beauty. Inside St. Martin’s ceramics studio, Saints experienced those same themes firsthand as they shaped and molded their own clay creations.

This cross-curricular collaboration between English and art invited students to connect literature and visual expression in a meaningful way. Through the textures of clay and the rhythm of storytelling, they discovered how both art forms require curiosity, care, and time to truly take shape.

It’s one more example of how St. Martin’s teachers help students see the world—and their own potential—through multiple lenses of creativity and critical thought.