The Monster Project!
This project addresses several California state content standards. The visual aspect of creating the monsters can be justified through Visual Arts Standards 2.1 Use texture in two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art and 2.7 Use visual and actual texture in original works of art. The students could create their monsters using any variety of materials, and in fact I think “trash” would be a great way to talk about recycling and would make a jump to Science. Using trash to create recycled art is something I have seen with both adult artists and children artists. I think if I collected materials and asked the students to bring things from home, we could have a great selection. I would need to be very careful with what I asked for. Old magazines, broken plastics, broken toys, soda can plastic rings, and so on would be fantastic. However, I’ve never tried this before, so I may want to supplement these materials with some other basic materials like construction paper, yarn, etc. during the first year to see how the project worked out. I may only need to keep them on hand to see if they became necessary. We could also use butcher paper and markers, beads, feathers, and glitter would also be nice finishing touches. All paper materials would be provided by the school, markers, beads, feather, and glitter would either have to be brought from home by the students or supplied out of my own pocket.
The “literature” portion of this project could fall under a variety of standards, however, for my own class I would ask the children to choose to write one of two types of poems about the monsters; either a haiku or a quatrain. We would learn about and practice creating these types of poems before applying them to the monster project. These poems would be specifically created to describe the Monster using describing words and sensory details. The children will have already had a start on this from creating their description for their body part and from hearing other class’s descriptions. This falls under Writing standards 1.1 Select a focus when writing, 1.2 Use descriptive words when writing, and 2.2 Write brief expository descriptions of a real object, person, place or event using sensory details. Although monsters aren’t real, the artwork the class has created IS real, and thus their descriptions are based off of a real object.
After this project was totally completed by all the classes involved, I would show the class what all the different monsters look like. This would be a fantastic time to talk about how people can think differently about the same thing. While all the classes got the same descriptions, they all turned out slightly (or greatly) different from each other. We would discuss why this is and why it is okay, or even good, that this happens in life. This would be a good time to read our swapped Point of View books, where the story is told from one character’s point of view, and then told again by the other character’s point of view. We would discuss point of view. I would ask the children to write about a time they experienced the same situation as something else, but felt differently about it.
During the construction period of this project, I would need to allot a big chunk of time for the students to work because they distribution of materials and clean up would take so long. I think about an hour would be long enough for the students to set up, get a lot of work done, and clean up---but not so much time that they children would get bored and want to move on. This is always a concern when planning for lower elementary. First graders don’t have the same attention spans as older children. J
My classroom would have stations set up during work time for this project. The center of the room would have the materials, and the different tables would be different body parts. Worktime in my classroom would probably be noisy because the children need to talk to each other and discuss different options. Also, I would probably play music in the background while the children worked which would add to the noise level. As long as the children are working and being productive, I definitely don’t mind the noise.
If any students are off-task during this time, they would be sent to the connecting classroom with my neighboring teacher. There they would work on any incomplete assignments they have not finished throughout the week and/or a phonics worksheet. When the students felt that they were ready to come back and participate, I would allow them to do so. Hopefully discipline wouldn’t be a major issue because all of the students would be so excited and involved in the monster project. Currently, my students are working on shoebox dioramas and they excitement and creativity they have shown leads be to believe that they would do a fantastic job with the monster project.
Kate,
It's great that you highlight one of the values of project based learning:
collaboration! As teachers, I think it's really important to not only speak
with children about the importance of learning with and from each other,
but also provide authentic opportunities for students to interact in
academic settings, and accomplish goals as a unit. The monster project
emphasizes these aspirations, as well as connecting students with other
students around the US. Working as a huge team to imagine, write about, and
construct monsters requires that students think "outside the box" and
really listen to each other in order to achieve a common end. In first
grade, where many kids are emerging from an ego-centric place, finding a
project where everyone learns together is valuable and creates a classroom
atmosphere that is both engaging and cooperative.
Recognizing that students have different points of view, and that even
looking at the same thing doesn't imply a consensus, is a lesson that
cannot be simply discussed but must be experienced, and your use of the
Monster Project provides that experience for children.
Kate,
I loved reading about the first grade project that you choose. I must say I may have to borrow it and use it next year with my kids. As you brought up, this is a fun assignment for the students, yet there are so many underlying lessons to teach the students. Working together in first grade is huge, and teaching about reusing and the benefits of being creative and unique are fantastic lessons that are beneficial to all young children!
Kate - you sound like you're ready to jump right in to this project. It
starts up again next September and your kids will have a reserved spot if
you want to join. You have highlighted the important aspects of the
project, the teamwork, the learning objectives, the kid management during
the process. I tried to make this project very un-intimidating especially
for teachers new to Internet projects. Classrooms can participate and
contribute as best fits their school requirements and priorities. The
making of the monster itself is done in so many different ways that I am
amazed each year. The cool part is that everyone is working from the same
set of descriptions and all of the descriptions came from the participating
classrooms. Time for completing the monster varies widely also. After
giving out all of the parts to kids in class, we discuss where the parts
came from, finding all locations on the map, and seeing what connections
kids might already have when they hear, for example: New York, Texas,
Pakistan, Florida and so forth. The we have the design phase where kids
imagine and sketch, and size their particular parts (nose, ears, fingers,
etc) and think about how they will do thinks like polka dots, scars,
spiders, warts and other creepy descriptive components. One part of
classroom management that always comes up with the Monster project is that
some kids finish their parts before others (like all assignments) and I
usually assign them to help someone who is still in the construction phase.
A super cool time is when we assemble all of the parts onto a large piece
of backing paper and watch the Monster come to life. Boy or Girl? It's
always an argument - but that's what happens when you work with other
people, right? -- Terry
Kate,
Kate,
I love that we both chose the monster project as our multiple class
project. When reading your blog I think we touched on a lot of the same
points. I love your idea on incorporating trash and science into the
lesson. I think the best part of this project is that it can be fun for
the kids and by proxy they will be learning. Another great aspect about
this project is the many different grade levels that participate. And as
far as final products are concerned they all look amazing. I also love
your idea of having the students create poems for the literature portion of
this project. Have they done poetry before, or would you need to do a
lesson in it first? Hopefully next year we can both be a part of this
awesome project.
Kate,