Adjectives, adjectives, adjectives! They tell size, shape, color, and number. And if you don't include them, your reader will get an incomplete picture in their mind of what you are trying to describe! That was the theme of our On Demand Writing Game, "Monster Draw." Here is how you play:
Step 1: Draw a monster, complete with background if you have time.
Step 2: Describe every aspect of your monster and background. Don't leave out a single detail! Because....
Step 3: Trade descriptions with a partner. Now you will draw each other's ONLY by reading what they have written. No talking or asking questions allowed!
As you can see, this game gives students instant feedback about their ability to use detail in their writing. We all had some good laughs as pictures were compared near Halloween Day. The winners were voted on by the class. Enjoy!
Kevin's Monster (5th grade)
My monster's head is a triangular slice of pizza. The slice is pointed down. The crust is brown. The pizza is cheese flavored, so it is yellow cheese. There are three pieces of pepperoni. The pepperoni is red. There is one in the upper left corner (not on the crust), one on the upper right corner (not on the crust), and one on the point of the pizza. It also has two, blue, triangular ears on top of the crust. Its head hovers a little over the body.
Its body is a pumpkin with the top cut off. The pumpkin is orange. It also has a green BOO cut out in the center of the pumpkin. It has two stick arms, one on each side of the pumpkin. The arms are pink. It has three fingers on both stick arms. Its feet are black springs. It has two feet below the pumpkin.
It is standing on green grass. The grass is cut, so there are thirteen triangles sticking up on flat grass.
Kevin must've been in a hungry Halloween mood this day! He described his creative monster so carefully, that Lia (6th grade) was able to draw this:
AnaRose's Monster (5th grade)
My monster is a cat. It has four ears in a row on the top of its head. The outside of the ears are yellow, and the inside is aqua green. The eyes are aqua green, and are thin slits. The nose is at the bottom of the face and is also aqua green. A tongue is sticking out, and is yellow. In the middle of the tongue, there is a small black line going down. In a dark black, it seems to be smiling. The rest of the face is black. The mouth is darker than the face. The face is facing you, and the cat is sitting.
Right underneath the head is a collar. It is aqua green, and the tag is a pyramid. It has six lines across, including the end of the pyramid. On the top, it has two blocks, and in the second row, there are three. You add one block for each row. On the body, you can only see the front leg and the back leg. On the front paw, you can see two aqua green claws, one high and the other low. On the back paw, you can only see one aqua green claw. It is low on the paw. The rest of the body is white.
The tail is cured near the end of it. It is thin, but grows bigger as it goes. On the curve part, there is a section that is yellow with aqua green wavy lines. There are five in total. The rest of the tail is black.
The cat is sitting on a pillar that goes to the end of the page, which shouldn't be a lot. The cat is sitting on a platform that is black. Its width is only as big as the paw, and a little more. In the middle of the pillar part, there is a pyramid just like the tag, except bigger. On the left high side, there are wavy aqua green lines that go diagonally to the bottom right side. There are twelve lines in total. The wavy lines don't go over the pyramid.
In the background, there are six stars. There are three on the left side of the cat, and three on the right side of the cat. The first star on the left is about one inch taller than the first star on the right. All stars are yellow. The second star is bigger than the first, and is a little bit away from where the side of the face is. It is even with the start of the eye, but the top half is higher than the eye. The third star is a little bit higher than the front paw, and it is small, and about a little bit over an inch away from the leg.
The first star on the right side of the cat is lower than the first star on the left. It is about the same size though. It is about an inch away from the head, and the top of the star ends about an inch away from the tip of the ear, but it is not right over it. The second star is in between the space of the body and the tail. It is the same size as the first star, and the middle of it is even with the end of the tail that is not black. The third star is even with the pyramid on the pillar. It is about an inch and a half away from the pillar. The bottom of the star is where the tip of the pyramid is. The star is medium-sized.
Can you draw it?
Wow! I've never seen such a detailed description of a background before! Tyler (5th grade) really took his time, read carefully, and came up with this! The class decided that, even though the art styles are different, they turned out super close!
Theo's Monster (Grade 4)
My monster's head starts from the middle of the page. The head is medium sized, orange, and shaped like a Pac-Man. It has a small triangle eye which is yellow with a green pupil. It has two green oval ears. The mouth of the Pac-Man face has two long yellow teeth. The Pac-Man is facing to the right side.
The body is a rectangle, with the corner cut off, and it is orange. It has a big blue question mark in the middle of the body. The two arms are long, yellow, robot arms. The arms have yellow pinchers at the tips.
The legs have no feet. They are stubby and green. They are long ovals. They have spikes on each side of the legs. There are two legs.
There is a bush on the left side, which is green. On the right side, there is a big gray rock with a little brown squirrel on top of it. The sky is purplish-blue.
Careful reading by partner James (4th grade) led to this twin monster!
Congratulations to our winners!!
