Gourd to Know . . .

      We are not going to describe our Kitah Gimmel gourd still-life illustrations in this blog posting.  We've done that already, in the documentation outside our room.  We've written how the children used a variety of media to create their gourd studies.  Instead, let's talk about what comes after . . . and what came before, the creation of our colorful works of art.

           After our gourd paintings were dry and hanging up on display, we used smaller pieces of gourds for a math lesson.  During Circle Time, we used one-to-one correspondence to count our smaller gourd pieces.  The pieces that we didn't need remained in the dried gourd-top.  One side of the gourd-top is very smooth and orange, the underside is rough is white.  We learned that some people use gourd pieces as drinking cups and plates.

           Above:  Some of the fall items available in our room.  

We used these gourds and dried corn for our observational drawings--our still-life illustrations.  Then, we played "What's Missing" with four of the items.  We use our new vocabulary word, gourd, and we practice our recall skills in order to play this game.

          During the summer, I had visited the North Georgia Mountains.  While there, I stopped off at the Gourd Museum.  Yes indeed, there is a Gourd Museum, only two hours away from our Atlanta neighborhood.  There were several baskets of gourds.  There were also eating utensils made from gourds, as well as musical instruments.  If you'd like a bowl or a sitar made from a gourd, this Museum is the place for you.

      Above, a row of baskets, chockful of gourds.  Below, I'm wearing a gourd mask.

 Above:  remembering the process of creating our still-life paintings; below, some of the children's  renditions of our gourd collection.

     

Feel free to visit our room to take a peek at our artwork!

Fondly,

Morah Susan and Morah Sterny