Creative Review with Chalk Monsters
Sixth-grade students at Somers Middle School completed a unit about major body parts in a recent Spanish class by creating chalk monsters.
“The objective was to stay in their target language the whole time,” Mr. Drebycz said. “They had to be as specific as possible so they could give directions for an entire monster.”
For the first part of the lesson, students worked in groups of four to trace one of their group members on large poster paper and then labeled all the main body parts in Spanish. Body parts included arms, mouth, nose, ear, foot, legs, knees, and eyes, among others.
“We picked a person from our group, and we traced them, then labeled them with body parts,” said Caroline.
Once they were completed, an eighth-grade language class stopped by to choose a winning group. That group earned Dunkin’ Donuts and hot chocolate as a reward.
“We were judged on the labels and if they were correct,” said Randy. “And we were also judged on which one looked the closest to the traced person.”
Students further practiced their vocabulary by writing out a description of a monster and then dictating that description to a partner. Both parts were done completely in their target language, reinforcing the vocabulary they’d been studying. Groups moved outside the school and while one student dictated, the other student drew what was described on the sidewalks in chalk. The results were a collection of unique chalk monsters.
“I think it helped us because instead of just reading the words, we had to draw what our partner told us,” Caroline said. “We had to recognize the words.”
- District
- Middle School
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