Thursday, September 16

9/16/2021

A well loved story for some, a familiar story for others, and a new story for a few, the mythology of Anansi has been given meaningful relevance to the Tucker Room children. The book was read during our first week of school and a question was raised at the end of the reading: "Why is there no mom?" Giacomo inquired. Naturally this prompted commentary and further pondering from other children. At this age, and at every age in most cases, moms have primary relevance in a person's life. So the question became a node from which we have begun to entertain theories explaining about where the mom in the Anansi spider family might be and exploring and discussing family structure and its various social dynamics.

"Why is there no mom?" -Giacomo

EXPLORING OUR IDEAS ABOOUT WHY THERE IS NO MOM IN THE ANANSI MYTHOLOGICAL STORY AND ESTABLISHING OUR THEORIES ON HER WHEREABOUTS THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF DRAWING

"I think she got eaten by a shark. There is the shark, and the shark is in the water This is Anansi mom. She tripped over this rock, and she fell on this grass and fell into the water, and it covered her up. It's Anansi's mom. This is the moon. Those are pebbles, and I added the sand." -ELLE

"This is the house she built for her family. She's cleaning up. She lives there forever, and now she's going to bed." -JANIE

"What if one of the... one of Anansi's sons is...is...is the mom?" -CECILY (She was also replicating the book image.)

Giacomo focused on depicting a scene from the book when Anasi gets swallowed by a fish.

"I'm thinking the mom is in space, on the moon, and she can't breathe and she dies." -JACK

"Spider and spider. Baby spider, mommy spider... And there's no more room in the house." -JACK

"I'm making a tiny island, and she can't get off to go home. So Anansi mom is stuck on this island, a small island, and she can't get back to her home, which is right here (where the spider is pictured) " -NORA

"This is where they caught Anansi mom, this is the trap where they put Anansi mom, and they'll never come back. The bee put the trap here." -MARLEY

“I wonder where Anansi’s mom could be?” - Elle

“It’s a rocket ship. I think Anansi’s moms in a rocket ship in space. “I think that the mom is in the rocket ship and she shooted into Mars. She shooted into Jupiter, and then she built a house there, and then she lived there. Here’s her spaceship, and she climbed up to the door and then got in. Then she blasted to Jupiter to live there. “She built a house. She had to fly in the rocket ship and build the house. She built her own house.” - LOCHIE

Small Group: Reed, Janie, Lochie, George, and Elle
“I wonder where Anansi’s mom could be?” - Elle
“Heaven?” - Lochie
“She died?” - Janie
“Heaven is a place where people died.” - Janie

Janie said she’s drawing the mom’s house. Where do families live?
“In a house.” - Reed and Lochie
Can they live anywhere else?
“They can live in a hut.” - Lochie
“They can live in sheds.” - George

“I agree that she went to her new house.” - Janie
“She went to a weird new house. Maybe she went to a doctor.” - Maxon
“Maybe she goed to the hospital because she broke her leg.” - Reed
...
“There’s no house in Jupiter and there’s no door in Jupiter.” - Janie
...
“Why would she want to go away from her family?” - Reed
“She just thought she would get in her rocket ship and shoot into space, and then come back, but her rocket ran out of gas on Jupiter, so she built a house.” - Lochie
“Forever?” - Maxon
“There’s a storm on Jupiter.” - Janie
“I can draw the planet she’s on. There are rings on it. I think I’ll draw it in black.” - Lochie [until this point, his drawing was just the rocket ship. He decided to add the planet after Janie mentioned the storm and Mason said he wanted to draw Mars]
“There she is. She’s right next to her house.” - Lochie

“But what’s the mom’s name?” - Reed

EXPLORING OUR IDEAS ABOOUT WHY THERE IS NO MOM IN THE ANANSI MYTHOLOGICAL STORY AND ESTABLISHING OUR THEORIES ON HER WHEREABOUTS THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF CLAY

Creating Cubby Bag Tags

In interest of our obvious reconnection we wanted to embrace our symbols as a means of getting reacquainted. We also knew that identification for our cubby bags would be needed. So we put forth the intention to revisit our symbols and their meaning by drawing the image of our symbol or illustrating something that connects us to our symbols related to why we chose it, why we like it, why we care about it, or what it makes us think about. We look forward to attaching our cubby tags to our cubby bags very soon!