Monster Madness and Pumpkin Writing

This past Fall, we did Monster writing (2nd grade) and Pumpkin writing (1st grade).

Pumpkin Writing
We read lots of books about pumpkins.  Then, students examined a real pumpkin -- touching it, smelling it, looking at it.  We brainstormed a list of work to describe the pumpkin.  Finally, students used the following model and our list of descriptive words to write about a pumpkin which they drew at the top of their papers. 

Model:  My pumpkin looks like ______________________.  It smells like __________________.  It feels  _______________________________.

Students who were able combined their simple sentences to form more complex sentences.

Monster Madness
We read many books about monsters, including I Need My Monster and Monster Hotel.  We made a list of words that might describe monsters.  Then, students drew their own monsters and wrote their own progressive monster poems.

An example:

My Monster
Scary monster
Sharp-clawed, scary monster
Sharp-clawed, sharp-toothed, scary monster.
Big, sharp-clawed, sharp-toothed, scary monster.



We mixed our pumpkin and monster writings in the hallway in our very own pumpkin patch.