Recycled montsers lesson plan

Hello everyone!

I have already shared with you two lesson plans, one about chromatographies and another about growing beans in cotton, that I taught in New Zealand. Today I will share with you another lesson plan I did there: building monsters from recycled materials. I wanted it to be a whole process of planning and development, so we spent three sessions on it. This is what I did:

First lesson:

Main aim: Students will use their creativity to design a monster made of recycled materials.

Secondary aim: Students will learn to follow a plan before they create something.

Cross-curricular aim: Students will use adjectives to describe a monster.

Materials: Book “Leonardo the terrible monster”, one handout per students, coloured pencils and felt pens.

Procedure: 

Lead-in (10 min)

The teacher reads the book “Leonardo the terrible monster” while the students sit on the mat.
After the story the teacher tells them they will create something related with the story and makes them guess what they will do.

Explanation and preparation (10 min)

The students get the instructions while sitting on the mat. They will have to design a monster with recycled materials. Some examples are projected on the board to give them some ideas. Each of them gets a handout to start planning their design.

Activity (35 min)

The students complete the handout.

Tidy up (5 min)

The students tidy up what they have used.

Second lesson:

Main aim: Students will create a monster with recycled materials by following their designs.

Cross-curricular aim: Students will be aware that most materials can be reused.

Materials: Book “Love Monster & the Perfect Present”, cardboard boxes, egg cartons, toilet paper and kitchen paper rolls, plastic and metal lids and plastic glasses.

Procedure: 

Lead-in (10 min)

The teacher reads the book “Love Monster & the Perfect Present” while the students sit on the mat. After the story the teacher asks them if they know what they will do.

Explanation and preparation (5 min)

The students get the instructions while sitting on the mat. They will start creating the monster they had previously designed.

Activity (40 min)

The students start creating their monster. The materials will be laid around the classroom so that they have access to them.

Tidy up (5 min)

The students tidy up what they have used.

Third lesson:

Main aim: Students will finish their monsters by decorating them so that they look like their designs.

Secondary aim: Students learn to manage the time and organise themselves.

Cross-curricular aim: Students will be aware that most materials can be reused.

Materials: Book “The three monsters’ big night out”, cardboard boxes, egg cartons, toilet paper and kitchen paper rolls, wooden sticks, paper plates, different types of coloured papers, coloured feathers, scissors, markers, glue, cotton wool, plastic glasses.

Procedure: 

Lead-in (10 min)

The teacher reads the book “The three monsters’ big night out” while the students sit on the mat.
After the story the teacher asks them what they will do to refresh their memory.

Explanation and preparation (5 min)

The students get the instructions while sitting on the mat. They will have to continue working with his monster. The teacher introduces the new materials they can use today (coloured paper, feathers, etc.). The teacher gives them their completed handouts and asks a couple of students some questions about the monsters they are making (what materials are you using?, how will you make it?, etc.)

Activity (35 min)

The students go to the table with the materials, get what they need and start to work.

Sharing ideas and tidy-up (10 min)

They sit on the mat and some of the students show the others their monsters and explain how they made them.
The students tidy up what they have used.

This is how some of the monsters looked:

Cool, aren’t they?

Have you done any activities like this with your students? How did it turn out? What do you think of this one?

I really hope you liked it!

Marta ♥