One of the things we always strive for in writing is for our words to paint a picture for the reader. We want them to be able to envision the images we create with our adjectives and descriptions. With Halloween occurring last week, it gave us the perfect opportunity to practice our descriptive writing in a fun and collaborative way.
Students had to create their own monsters. Then, using their drawings, they had to write a description of their monster using as much detail as possible. This is so important to do in writing all the time but we also had another reason why we wanted to for this project as well.
For this particular project, we were going to switch our writings with Mr. Salsich’s class in Connecticut. The students were then going to have to use our writing to try to draw our monsters. We wanted them to be able to “picture” our monsters based upon our descriptions in our writing. We also had to try to draw their monsters based upon writings that they had done. Once both classes were finished, we skyped so that we could share see their versions of our monsters and show them what we imagined they actually looked like!
We saw a lot of similarities between our monsters and the ones Mr. Salsich’s class drew. In order for that to happen, we definitely had to use a lot of detail! Take a look at our slideshow below. You can read our descriptions, see our monsters, and then see the monsters that Mr. Salsich’s class drew based on our writing.
*Do you think you could have drawn the monsters based on the descriptions?*
*After reading the descriptions, did the monsters look how you imagined they would?*
Mr. Avery,
One of the teachers at my previous job (after school teaching) is leading a monsters themed club. I told her about this lesson you did and she was really excited and impressed. We may do our own Monster Mania skye session while I am doing tutoring after school. Thanks for sharing!
Mr. Stezzi (http://mrstezzi.edublogs.org/)
Hi Mr Avery and Class,
I am a student from the school St. Damians Bundoora in Melbourne, Australia. I really liked how you did a PowerPoint on the monsters that you and your class have drawn and put the information about them on here.
I love your blog.
Sincerely,
Olivia
Dear Mr. Avery,
That’s kind of what we did in 4th grade. It looks interesting. They were very creative. It was cool seeing them.
From,
Ariel♥
What a great project – I love the way you’ve added an element of challenge to the writing, and given it real purpose by making your audience draw your monsters – inspired! It must have been a lot of fun to see how others pictured the creatures you described. I thought your descriptions were superbly detailed, but I imagine that my drawings would have been different again!
Mrs M & A Room with a View
Dear Mr. Avery,
What could be better than monster stories? I love how you and Mr. Salsich’s class worked on this together yet, also separately!
Did you know that this is also how picture book writers and illustrators work? Illustrators generally do not talk to the writer of the story. They work strictly from the text and clues that the editor may give him or her.
I like how you used slideshare. I have been trying to figure out how to showcase some turkey stories and their illustrations. Perhaps this is the solution to my dilemma.
From,
Mrs. Hembree
Dear Mr. Avery’s Class,
This is one of the coolest projects that I have seen. I thought your monsters were fantastic and your descriptive writing was superb. You are definitely very skilled at painting pictures with your words. I loved that you showed all the pieces of the project in your slide show.
I am going to have to tuck away this idea to try my my class one day. Thank you so much for sharing yet another wonderful idea!
Sincerely,
Mrs. W
Sointula, Canada
Dear Mr. Avery,
The slideshow is cool. I showed it to my sister and she loved it! I think we all did a good job with drawing and so did Mr. Salsich’s class for third graders. I mean I couldn’t draw half of what they drew.
Sincerely,
Hannah
P.S. I hope your girlfriend feels better 🙂
Dear Mr. Avery,
Today I am having a great start to the morning! I just handed out 6 T-Shirts for the boys to wear to support us for our cheer competition on Saturday! Wish me luck on Saturday! 🙂
Sincerely,
Alyxandra
P.S Thank you Frankie, Phil, Kevin, Ed, Will, and Ryan for wearing them! ♥
Dear Mr. Avery,
The monster drawing activity was fun. I think that it helped us with our discriptive writing skills. We do many fun activities in class, but I think we should try to do something like this again because it also gives us a chance to talk with other classes.
Sincerely,
Bryan
Dear Bryan C,
Thanks for the comment. Also I agree that it helped us on our distributive skills. Also I think we should do it again too because it doses make to interact with other classes.
Sincerely,
Kevin B
Dear Mr. Avery,
This Saturday and the Saturday after that are my cheer competitions in Boston! I am so excited because they are always a lot of fun but its unfair because football season is over and they get a break! 😆 Me and Jenny are convincing the boys to wear cheerleading shirts on Friday…we will see how that goes!
Sincerely,
Alyxandra
Dear Mr. Avery,
It was a lot of fun Skyping with the class in Connecticut, and I hope we can again soon! The two girls that drew my monster we almost completely accurate! I might have confused them a little by using circumference though! 😆 When will be be skyping again?
Sincerely Your favorite Steelers Fan,
Alyxandra
Dear Mr Avery,
Wow, great post!
Awesome drawing. I could guess one or two maybe. It is only because I am VERY BAD at guesing.
I could draw some thought I would be too shy to show them
From Ella♥
@ Mr Avery,
Hi my name is Liam.I’m in 2KM.
What a great post!
I love monsters!I love to draw monsters.
Do you like to draw monsters?
From your blogging buddy,
Liam
Dear Laim,
Thank you for leaving a comment. Are you having a good time at school this year in 2KM? I also think that this was a very fun activity, but it also helped our descriptive writing skills. We hope to hear from you again soon.
Sincerely,
Bryan