1,000 Paper Cranes

ATTENTION TO PARENTS AND TEACHERS!

In the coming weeks your 4th and 5th graders are going to be starting a very ambitious project. As an Art Teacher I try to involve my students in cultural awareness within and outside of the realm of their own cultures. In the past 24 weeks we have talked about Native Americans, from Pre-Historic Inuit tribes to Meso-American Mayan civilization. Now the Dream Builders Village is learning about Japanese folklore. This is not entirely new to them as Ms. Ginger and Mrs. Melkonian have introduced songs from Japanese culture.

The aspect that my 3-D Art students are going to focus on is the tale of Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes. The story tells of a girl who suffered from terminal radiation as a result of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. Long ago it was believed that if any person folded 1,000 paper cranes they would then be granted one wish but in modern times the folding of 1,000 paper cranes is viewed as an image of Peace. It is my goal to have the 4th and 5th grade Village complete this project, but here is the catch, we are doing it with 100% recycled materials. What this means is I will set up a box in the main office for paper donations. These donations can be anything from old magazines, flyers from the mail, sheets of paper that you no longer need, newspapers, advertisements etc. It can be anything that you were planning on throwing away. This project teaches the students about the importance of recycling and it also shows them how many things can be done with an old newspaper.

The box will be labeled as CRANE DONATION STATION. It is not mandatory to donate but anything will help!

Here is a link that shows you how to make your own Paper Cranes and the Wikipedia link to help fill in the rest of the story. Your kids would love it if you joined in! Thanks for your help!

http://homepages.tig.com.au/~masonda/UNESCOpack/sadako/sadako.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_Sasaki