Telling Stories Through Objects - Brooklyn Children's Museum

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ACTIVITY 6 Grades 2–5 Related <strong>Objects</strong>: Goldweights Playing with Proverbs A proverb is a pithy statement expressing a truism about everyday life. Four of the five Asante goldweights in the case are symbols of common Asante proverbs. The goldweights’ connection to the proverbs is similar to the connection that other objects in the case have to the stories in this teacher guide—the proverbs may be shorter than the stories, but in each instance, one simple object can bring to mind a particular statement and set of values. In this activity, your students will have the chance to explore the meaning of several proverbs, and try to write a few themselves! Materials: • Blackboard or chart paper • Paper and pencils What To Do: 1 Review with the class what a proverb is. Cite a few examples to illustrate this literary form, and ask your students to explain them. For example: • An apple a day keeps the doctor away. • A penny saved is a penny earned. • No news is good news. You and your students may also visit www.manythings.org/proverbs/ to learn about proverbs and see more than 200 examples. 2 Pass around the small case containing the goldweights. Ask students to guess what each one depicts. 3 Write on the board or recite aloud one of the following Asante proverbs associated with the goldweights, and see if the class can figure out which goldweight represents that proverb: • Puff adder: “Although the snake does not fly, it has caught the hornbill, whose home is in the sky.” LITERACY EXTENSIONS: PROVERB POWER! TELLING STORIES THROUGH OBJECTS 20 • Birds in a tree: "Only birds of the same species play together on the same tree." • Chicken head: "You do not need a big stick to break a chicken’s head." • Porcupine: "One should never rub bottoms with a porcupine." 4 After the class has matched the proverb to the goldweight that represents it, have them discuss that proverb’s meaning (see Discussion Questions below). Pages 9, 34–35 contain more information about Asante goldweights and proverbs. 5 Repeat steps 3–4 for each of the four proverbs (or as many times as you like). 6 Working individually or in groups, have students try to write their own proverbs. Remind them that their goal is to express a universal truth about everyday life, but to do so as succinctly as possible. This may be more difficult than it sounds, so encourage them to be creative and to keep trying! 7 Have students add their proverbs to their Story Journals. Discussion Questions: • What does this proverb mean? • How does it apply to everyday life? • Do any of the Asante proverbs remind you of similar proverbs in American culture or any of the other cultures to which your students may belong? (Hint: The Asante birds in a tree proverb is remarkably similar to the more familiar “Birds of a feather flock together.”) • What was the hardest part of trying to write your own proverb? See page 23 for details on how this activity meets New York State Learning Standards. Divide the class into teams of 3–4 students each, and have each team brainstorm and write down as many proverbs as it can think of. Turn this exercise into a game by setting a time limit (perhaps 5–10 minutes) and creating a point system. For example, you might award one point for each proverb that a team comes up with, and two points for each proverb it thinks of that no other team has written down. (Additional bonus points could be awarded for coming up with proverbs from other cultures and/or languages.) The team with the most points wins!
ACTIVITY 7 Additional Activities and Curricular Connections Arts and Literacy Extension: Perform a story Grades 2–5 As the shadow puppet in this case demonstrates, there is more than one way to tell a story. Working in groups of four or five students, have children choose a story from this guide, from one of the books in the case, or from another source of their choosing. The students should dramatize that story to perform for the class. They may create puppets or masks to represent their characters. Students may ad-lib their performances, or older children may write a script for the action. Give them time to rehearse their plays, and ask each group to perform its play at the front of the classroom. If you wish to invest more time and preparation, you might have students create scenery, props, or costumes to accompany their performances, and invite parents or other classrooms to watch their performances. Literacy Extension: What do you think is going on? All Grades For most of the objects in the case, we have included a corresponding story about that object or the people who made it in the Appendix at the end of this teacher guide. But two of the objects, the mola and the bark painting, do not have stories about them. Challenge your students to pick one of these objects and create a tale of their own about it. Ask them to examine their object carefully before they begin writing, and base their story on what they see. What is going on in the picture? Who are the characters in their story? What are they doing? What will happen to them? Encourage your students to think up creative plots and vivid characters, but remind them to be true to the objects they are writing about, too. Students may write or draw their stories in their Story Journals, or tell them aloud before the rest of the class. TELLING STORIES THROUGH OBJECTS 21 Geography Extension: Mapping objects All Grades Copy the information pages and cut out images of the objects in the case. Share information about these objects with your students. Look at the places each object comes from on a world map, and have students tape each image to the country or region it comes from. Older students may do library or Internet research to find out more about the types of stories that are traditionally told in each of those countries. See page 23 for details on how this activity meets New York State Learning Standards.
Page 1 and 2: Portable Collections Program Tellin
Page 3 and 4: ■ CHECKLIST: WHAT’S IN THE CASE
Page 5 and 6: ■ INFORMATION FOR THE TEACHER ■
Page 13 and 14: Hold Emerge Hope Fix Listen Enter I
Page 15 and 16: PREDATORS AND PREY 13 What color or
Page 17 and 18: MASKS 15 What color or colors is th
Page 19 and 20: ACTIVITY 4 All Grades Related Objec
Page 21: A Fragmented Story: The Blue Willow
Page 25 and 26: ■ RESOURCES AND REFERENCE MATERIA
Page 27 and 28: ■ RESOURCES AND REFERENCE MATERIA
Page 29 and 30: The Myth of Osiris An Ancient Egypt
Page 31 and 32: Cupid and Psyche (continued) By thi
Page 33 and 34: The Necessity of Salt An Austrian f
Page 35 and 36: The Dreaming Prince (continued) sev
Page 37 and 38: The Game Board (continued) "Here,"
Page 39 and 40: How the Kiwi Lost Its Wings (contin
Page 41 and 42: How the Hopi Indians Reached Their
Page 43: Acknowledgments Beth Alberty Chrisy

Telling Stories Through Objects - Brooklyn Children's Museum

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