Lesson Plan #:AELP-WCP001
Date: 1994
Grade Level(s): 4,5,6,7,8
Subject(s):
- Language Arts/Writing (composition)
Objective: To use comics to foster creative writing and vocabulary skills
Materials:
- newspapers
- construction paper
Procedures: To Start:
Ask students to name their favorite comic strips and describe what they like best about the characters in the strips. Tell students what your favorites are; remember, comics aren’t just for kids!
Explain that the bubbles in comic strips take the place of quotation marks. Using a comic strip from the newspaper, write out dialogue in standard form, using quotation marks and phrases of attribution. Group Activity:
Have students create their own character to be introduced as a newcomer to their favorite comic strip. For example, they might develop a new kid in the Peanuts gang or a new pet in Garfield’s house.
Begin by having each student draw a picture of the new character and write a description of the character’s personality. Next have students draw their own three-frame comic strip, using both new and regular characters. Students might want to refer back to recent comic strips for ideas, or they can design their comic strips to pickup where today’s strip left off. They should write the dialogue in bubbles above the characters’ heads.
Compile all the finished strips together for a class funny pages. Follow-Up:
Comics often contain unfamiliar words. Weekly vocabulary lists will be a lot more fun when students develop their own lists of new words, using comic strips as sources (Serial and adventure strips are especially good for this activity.)
Each week have students find five new words in the comics to write down and define. To underline the importance of using words in context, have students cut and paste the strips next to the words they have selected.
This lesson plan was downloaded from Big Sky Telegraph.
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NIE Curriculum Guide – The Montana Standard – Butte, MT.