Fourth grade's A.R.T. is MEANING.
The girls started the Memory & Loss unit with a wonderful story by Mem Fox called Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge. It's about a young boy who is friends with an old woman who has lost her memory. He collects some objects that he shares with her and helps her find it. The girls learn about literal meaning and metaphorical meaning of objects and images and that one image or object can mean different things to different people.
Then the girls considered their own losses in life. They learned how the Ashanti people in West Africa honor the loss of an individual by stamping cloth with symbols that represent what the passed person leaves behind. Each student will design her own symbol of loss considering what she gained and share that with the community through stories and printed cloth.
Then the girls considered their own losses in life. They learned how the Ashanti people in West Africa honor the loss of an individual by stamping cloth with symbols that represent what the passed person leaves behind. Each student will design her own symbol of loss considering what she gained and share that with the community through stories and printed cloth.
