Grade 2: Chumash Rock Paintings

Listen to what I am about to sing,

Listen to my stamping

I tear the ground up.
Listen to my groaning.

Look! Listen!

He grunts on high.

The ground shakes.

In the night he makes a noise

like a thunderclap.

Clear the way!

I am a creature of power.

I stand up and begin to walk to the

mountain tops,

To every corner of the world.

I am a creature of power.

~ Chumash Bear Dance from The Hutash Ceremony

"If anybody dared to make a noise during the dance, the Bear might bite him!" - from the book "The Chumash People: Materials for Teachers and Students".

A beautiful sunflower we grew from a pot with our Little Flower Girls Club...

Continuing on with our pre-form drawing lessons, we retold the story of The Rainbow Bridge and I read the girls the book by Audrey Wood.


The illustrations were just amazing! And then I took out a book on Chumash Rock Paintings that I checked out from the library and we looked at some of the forms...The book is called, "The Rock Paintings of the Chumash" by Campbell Grant.


Lots of sun circles found on the cave walls...


So for fun, I cut up brown grocery bags, got out the three paint colors the Chumash typically used (red, black and white) which, of course was made from natural sources (we used acrylic paints) and the girls had fun replicating some of the images...

They are now hanging on our walls as we continue with this block and learn a bit about the Chumash people. We also read a wonderful chapter book about a young Chumash boy called, "Kemi" by Conrad Buff. It's a lovely story about a little Chumash boy who accidentally breaks his mother's beloved soapstone pot, finds an ancient treasure, and accompanies his father and other messengers on a journey to the ocean in order to trade with other Chumash from the islands. His father trades in Kemi's special treasure for a beautiful soapstone pot for his mother. He also has many adventures to share with his village upon his return. Lots of wonderful information in this book as a living history source.


So these last two entries were kind of our "pre-school" beginning. Now, we will jump into our form drawing review next post!