Monsters, No David, and Frankenstein!

Goodness, I am not really sure how monsters, David, and Frankenstein go together, but here I go!

We read "Go Away, Big Green Monster!" by Ed Emberley. Of course, my students absolutely LOVED the story! Some of them had heard it in preschool, but they still love how the monster is created by the pages in the book and then how he disappears. We made the monster reappear by starting at the back of the book and that was fun, too! I put the book and CD in the listening center and in a literacy tub, they had the opportunity to create a monster of their choice. They could choose the shape of their monster's face, its color, and the decorations on their monsters face. They had to write a color word at the bottom of their paper.

Here are a few examples of our monsters:




These next pictures are from an idea I got from Kim Jordano's blog. You can find her HERE.
These are our "F is for Frankenstein" literacy tub.
 And finally, every couple of weeks, I do a Peaceable Kids lesson with my kinders. I feel that this is THE most important thing that I teach! Learning to get along is SOOOOO important - a lesson that is often forgotten as our students grow older. This week we discussed rules and respect. I based the lesson on David Shannon's book "No David!". Despite the fact that David misbehaves in this book, the story really drives home the lesson that rules are for following AND that even when we make mistakes, we are forgiven by those who love and care about us. The story gave me the opportunity to talk to my kinders about why we have a behavior chart and why I move them from Green to Yellow or Red. It is not because I do NOT care, but because I DO care about them. I told them if they were allowed to make wrong choices like David made in the book, then they would not know that it was inappropriate to interrupt or break things. They would grow up thinking that it was okay to misbehave. That is NOT what anyone wants to happen. I could see their little brains working and that they were REALLY trying to understand this BIG concept.

After our discussion, we then followed step by step directions to make David. Here are some examples of their creations:


 Whew! We have been busy! If you would like the step by step directions for creating David, click HERE.

Peace and blessings,

6 comments

  1. Thanks! He was SOOOOO much fun to do and the kids LOVED making him!

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  2. LOVE your ideas Cindy, especially David. Thanks for sharing
    Rhonda
    Classroom Fun

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  3. Thank you, Rhonda! It is so much fun sharing ideas!

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  4. Your monsters, Frankensteins and Davids are adorable!! Love them!
    Lori
    Conversations in Literacy

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  5. Thank you, Lori! I am leaving David up for awhile - he is such a nice reminder of remembering to follow rules!

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