The lesson for these Name Design Monsters was inspired by one of the wonderful blogs I follow last spring, but I can't remember which one! Leave a comment with your url if your blog is the one I should be referencing!!!
Anyhow, I tried these with 3rd graders at the end of last school year at Brimfield and thought the process was a bit too challenging for some of the kids. I really liked the idea though, so I bumped the lesson up to 5th grade for my maternity sub to do at Suffield at the beginning of this year. I am thrilled with the results, and Ms. Coe said the kids enjoyed making them.
If you can't tell, you start by folding a 12" x 18" piece of construction paper lengthwise, and then have the kids draw their names in bubble or block letters based on the fold. When you CAREFULLY cut the names out, you are left with a really neat symmetrical shape that lends itself to monster design when you turn it vertically. The students used permanent markers, metallic colored pencils, and construction paper to complete their monster designs.
