Thursday, December 1, 2011

Deflated Gourds

Yesterday my partner and I visited our 5th grade class in the middle of the week to finish the last day of the lesson plan. It was a BIG surprise when we saw that half of the gourds we were working with had deflated like balloons! Half of the gourds turned out as planned, so part of the class spent the day re-painting the surface of their gourds and adding texture while the other half carved away their symbols and shapes on the surface. It was a huge disappointment when the students saw their gourds that they had painted with such care. However, those who didn't like the color combination or the way the paint had covered the gourd were able to change their design to something they liked better. Some students were able to use the carving and reductive line technique very effectively while others were having more trouble. The reductive lines really depended on the thickness of the paint on the gourd as well. The thinner the paint was on the gourd, the easier it was to carve away. The thicker the paint was, the more the paint would peel off of the surface rather than just be scratched away.

One of the girls wanted to add stars to her design, but her paint was on so thick that they would turn out like blobs instead. The paint would peel away wherever her lines overlapped. She had to switch her design to more simple forms and lines rather than the intricate stars she was hoping for! She was a good sport, even though she had to switch.

I can't wait to post more about our lesson plan and some clips of us teaching. I have some fun pictures that I can't upload for a while due to my camera having troubles. I will update and post again soon to give you the full picture of what we did with our fifth graders!

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