Fourth grade has been deep into metaphors and meaning with a piece called, "I Am the World". They made lists of things that make up the world: cultures, languages, landforms, bodies of water, animals, plants, weather, communities, etc. Then, they personalized their list by adding their world experiences, interests, and passions. They also wrote an "I Am" poem that prompted great visuals. Then, they collected imagery that represented their ideas and morphed them together using juxtaposition and other surrealist techniques. They are turning their marker drafts into collages and revising their poems for display later this fall.
Surrealism is a cultural movement in the 1920s that emphasized the relationship between writing and visual arts. Artists juxtaposed ideas to create new meaning and to represent dreams, the unconscious and illogical worlds. As soon as you think you have figured out the meaning of a work or symbol, you see it another way.
This project helps the girls consider their own perspective and cultures and prepares them for thinking about other people, places and cultures in the world with awe and wonder.
