Pool Toy Draw!

     ADJECTIVES, ADJECTIVES, ADJECTIVES!  They paint the picture in the reader's mind of exactly what we want them to see.  This is the theme of our summer workshop game, "Pool Toy Draw."

Step 1: Draw a creative pool toy, preferably with a background and some level of complexity.  It should be unique and unlike any other pool toy ever seen!

Step 2: Write a description of the pool toy, broken into paragraphs.  Include size, shape, color, and number adjectives in every sentence!

Step 3: Trade descriptions with a partner.  They will draw yours, and you will draw theirs, without any talking or help!  If adjectives were effectively used, the pictures should end up being a very close match!

     What I love about this game is the instant feedback it gives my students about the importance of descriptive language.  I can often hear them playfully grumbling during Step 3, wishing their partners had included some crucial piece of information that would help complete the picture in their mind!  On- demand writing, writing under pressure, and reading comprehension are all skills that are developed with this simple, fun game.

     In this first sample, Theo (5th grade) and Aiden (7th grade) got paired up.  Now, you must know, Theo has been victorious at both "Snowman Draw" and "Monster Draw" in his school workshops.  He is a VERY careful and descriptive writer, so Aiden was very happy to be partnered up with him!  Aiden is a great, thorough reader.  So they made a great pair!

                                                        Theo's Pool Toy

     My paper is vertical.  The pool toy is horizontal.  My pool toy is symmetrical. 

     My pool toy has a large noodle that is skinny and red.  At each end of the noodle are medium green rectangles horizontally placed.  There is a blue small square inside each of them.  There are yellow and orange flames coming out of the bottom ends of the green rectangles.

     On the noodle, there are three blue circles symmetrically placed that fit perfectly on the tube.  They each have one orange triangle inside of them.  The circles are not large enough to pass the sides of the tube.

     The background includes a gray plain border.  There is water all around the pool toy, and six waves randomly scattered.  Three are on the top, and three are on the bottom.  The waves are blue.

Looks like a fun thing to play with on a hot summer day!  Way to go Aiden for reading and drawing so carefully, and congratulations to Theo for yet another victory as a writer!

Julia's Pool Toy

     My pool toy is a giant pineapple wearing sunglasses-shaped pool float.  When drawing this, make sure to picture a pineapple in your mind, as well as read my instructions.

     For the general shape, draw a large oval in the middle of the page.  Coming from the top of the large oval, add three smaller and skinnier ovals, and make sure that they look kind of like the top of a pineapple.  Then, right next to the left-most oval on top, draw a little circle, with five little ovals coming from all around it.  This should look like a flower in the pineapple's hair.

     Next, we will be doing decorations.  About one third of the way down from the top of the large oval, draw half moon shaped sunglasses.  Make sure they fit the pineapple well.  About two-thirds of the way down from the top of the large oval, draw a medium-small half moon shaped mouth.

     Now, we will add color.  Color the sunglasses all black.  Color the mouth pink.  Color the large oval yellow.  Color the top three ovals light green.  Lastly, color the middle of the flower orange, and the petals of it pink.

     For the background, just draw a rainbow behind the middle of it.  The colors of the rainbow should be in this order: Red, orange, yellow, light green, light blue, and dark purple.  Leave the rest of the page blank, and you're done!

Julia (6th grade) nailed it!  So very descriptive, and so clear and easy to read.  Marissa (6th grade) was a careful reader and drew an absolute twin!

Sophia's Pool Toy

     My pool toy is shaped like a tree.  First, add two large, rounded triangles in the middle of the page, on top of each other.  Make the "point" of the bottom one overlap into the bottom of the second triangle.  About a third of the top of the triangle should overlap.  At the bottom of the lower triangle, add a medium sized, rounded rectangle, slightly taller than a square.  The width of the rectangle should be about one third of the width of the bottom of the triangle.  Erase the top of the second triangle that overlaps with the top triangle (Don't erase any of the top triangle.). Now it should look like an oversimplified pine tree.  

     Inside the top triangle, close to the top, write a large capital "I."  Underneath that, write the word "like" in cursive.  (Still large-is, and make it lower case.). Instead of the dot for the "I", put a small heart instead. In the bottom triangle, write "trees" in all upper case, similar size and style to the "I" at the very top.  Make sure the word "trees" is in the lower part of the bottom triangle, similar placement to the "like" in the top triangle above "trees." Above "trees," add another curved line to match the base of the top triangle.  This will make a sort of thick stripe directly under the first triangle and a bit above "trees."  Also, put a medium-sized heart in the middle of the trunk.

     Put thirteen pointy individual wave decals randomly spaced around the paper.  In the top left corner, draw the same sized heart as the one on the trunk, but the top of the heart is facing the corner it's closest to, making it a diagonal.

     Outline the two hearts in dark pink, trace the words with black, trace the waves with dark blue, trace the two triangles in dark green, and the stump with dark brown.  Color the hearts pink, the stump brown, the strip in between the two triangles dark green, and color the rest of the leafy part of the tree a lighter green.  Shade a bit in each wave with light blue.

Wow!  Sophia (7th grade) is so extremely detailed even with a somewhat simple drawing.  She was so detailed, and Lia (7th grade) was such a careful reader, that they were voted victorious by their group!