SUBJECT: Language Arts
GRADE: 4th

TECHNOLOGY: Chat, Email
BY: Leigh Gayton

 

The Monster Exchange

 

Lesson Note: Complete details and instructions for “The Monster Exchange” can be found at the website:  www.csnet.net/minds-eye/monster.html.

 

Grade and Subject: Language Arts/ Writing for fourth grade

 

Lesson Rationale: This project will provide a specific purpose and audience for student  writing- an extremely important element of writing that is difficult to teach without  concrete opportunities.   “The Monster Exchange” will provide these opportunities.   The project will also challenge students to broaden their vocabularies and writing techniques to create more detailed and descriptive essays.  Students will have an opportunity to communicate with students from another class in the United States.   Through the chat rooms and e-mail, they will get to know one another and discuss writing along with other topics.

 

Objectives:    The students will...

  1. Design and draw a monster
  2. Write an essay describing their monster
  3. Draw a monster based on the descriptive essay received from the partner class
  4. Create a list of techniques to include in the class “Writer’s Toolbox”  which detail       tools an author can use to be more descriptive
  5. Complete the assignments in teams.

 

Materials:

  1. Computer with Internet capabilities
  2. Netscape 2.0 or higher
  3. Ability to put students pictures on the computer- flatbed scanner, digital camera, an art program
  4. GIF converter program
  5. Supplies to create monster drawings- paper, markers, pens, scissors
  6. Examples of literature with good descriptive passages- “Oogly Gum Chasing Game”,  “Nessie”, “There’s a Nightmare in my Closet”, “Strider”, “Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives”, etc. 
  7. Chart paper for class discussion

 

Lesson Description:

 

After students have had some experience with reading a variety of descriptive literature (reading groups, being read to aloud, independent and pleasure reading), one day I will read aloud, “There’s a Nightmare in My Closet” by Mercer Mayer.  I will not show the pictures as students will be visualizing the monster in their minds.  After reading, students will draw their perceptions of what the monster looks like. We will share the drawings with each other and discuss tools an author can use to make the images being described more vivid and distinct for the reader. 

 

On the following day, I will introduce and explain “The Monster Exchange” to the students.  Previously, I will have registered my class and communicated with our partner teacher with whom we will be trading essays and pictures.  We will have set up a tentative schedule and number of teams who will be participating.  Students will be in teams of five people.  Each team will create a monster drawing and name him/her/it.  During the next phase, our Writing Workshop time will be devoted to creating team essays describing their monsters. 

I will collect the essays on disk and e-mail them to our partner class.  In turn, we will receive their essays.  Each team will receive one essay that they will read and recreate a drawing of the monster described.  After completing the drawings, each team will present their drawing to the class and explain why they created him/her/it as they did using the essay as evidence.  Next, the original and recreated drawings will be digitized and converted into a paint or image program.  Finally, the images will be sent to “The Monster Exchange” and gathered together in the “Monster Exchange Gallery” which anyone can see by visiting to the Monster Exchange web site.  Students will have an opportunity to see their drawings on web, as well as communicate with our partner class through “Monster Exchange Chat Rooms” and e-mail.  They will be encouraged to discuss their experience with “The Monster Exchange”, their writing and  to provide and receive feedback. 

 

As a culminating activity, we will have a class discussion and go back to our original list to add more writing tools authors can use to help make their writing more descriptive.  Students will also complete the team member evaluation forms.  As part of  future Writing Workshops, students will be encouraged to revisit a piece of writing from their portfolio and find a passage which they would like to make more descriptive.  They can try using some of the new tools discovered in this assignment. 

 

Evaluation

 

Objective 1:  I will check to see that each team has created a monster drawing

Objective 2:  Teams will be required to use at least three strategies from our class generated list   of writing tools for descriptive writing

Objective 3:  Teams will present their drawings to the class using the essay to explain why    they made the decisions they did on how to draw the monster

Objective 4:  Students will write journal entries which I will read.  As a class, we will discuss   our list of writer’s tools and add more based on their ideas from the journals and   experience.

Objective 5:  I will monitor team participation throughout the assignment and students will   complete a team member evaluation for every one on their team, including    themselves.

 

 

 

The Monster Exchange Team Evaluation  

 

 

Team member evaluating : ___________________________

Team member being evaluated: ________________________

 

Evaluate your team member on each of the criteria listed below. Feel free to explain your answer(s) on the back.

 

Extent to which the Team member....

 A) Participated in team drawing and writing

 

  1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

 

 B) Completed word he/she was responsible for on time

 

  1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

 

 C) Listened and responded to other suggestions

 

  1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

 

 D) Treated other team members respectfully

 

  1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5

 

I would like to work with this person again on an assignment.

   YES    NO

 

Circle one and explain your answer.