I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Memory is the underpinning of our personal identity

Essential Question:

How would you explain “memory”?

Bridge:

My Memory Thing

Content:

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: To have the children think about the things they remember about themselves. Memory: “full of mind”

Activity: Have the children make a list of five things they know about themselves. Have a discussion about how they know these things.

Assessment: The children’s understanding of what memory means, and the connection between memory and our sense of who we are.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: To have the children see the connection between the symbols we create to help save our memories.

Activity: Create a list of memory symbols. Encourage them to think of large community ones like statues as well as little personal things they keep, like seashells and baseball cards.

Assessment: The diversity of the list.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: To share the children’s experiences of their own memories.

Activity: Have the children bring “a memory thing” to school. Draw it and explain its meaning to the group.

Assessment: The ability of each child to describe the meaning of his/her object.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: To understand and enjoy the book.

Activity: Read the story Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge.

Assessment: Attentiveness and understanding on the part of the children

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: To elicit from the children the details of the story, and to use the text to help the children understand different kinds of “memory things.”

Activity: Have the children list the characteristics of the memory things in the text. Children may use the book to do this.
Next have the children interview a grandparent or a senior friend about one of their happy memories and then draw a picture of the person and their memory.

Assessment: Level of understanding on the part of the children of the meaning of memory symbols. The visual should depict the incident being described

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: To help the children create symbols for happy memories.

Activity: Have the children create a memory box, five objects that remind them of happy times. Have them write a story about each one of them.

Assessment: Originality, writing quality and meaning for the child.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: To have the children practice getting feedback and refining their work.


Activity: Have the children work in pairs reading their stories to each other and then refining their work.

Assessment: Differences between first and last drafts; were they able to edit their work and make changes that improved the final product
to each other and then refining their work.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To give the children the opportunity to celebrate their work.

Activity: Have the children create a class memory book and exhibit it in the library.

Assessment: Quality of the presentation, relevance of the material.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: