Go Away Big (any color) Monster!

Lesson based on this book

Focus on symmetry

Colors and shapes

1st grade construction paper collage based on book, Go Away Big Green Monster. Click to view students' art gallery on Artsonia

I bought the book, Go Away Big Green Monster, used on Amazon thinking it would be perfect for a construction paper collage lesson. When it arrived it was all ripped up. I couldn't really read it to my students. So, I decided to use it as an inspiration for our own version of the story that would lead perfectly into our collage lesson. I made it out of shapes in Keynote and animated it slide by slide. I let the students come up and touch the interactive whiteboard to take us to the next digital page of the story. I set it to music to add a bit more suspense. Below is a recording of what our book looks like. It's much more fun when the kids participate. So, here is the keynote file for you to give it a try. When the lesson was complete we created a word bank of colors and shapes and filled out a monster display form. This helped reinforce some of the concepts we explored.

Go Away Big Pink Monster from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.

Download the Monster Construction Paper Collage Lesson

I put the powerpoint lesson with instructions and resources built in to lead you and your students through the steps needed to create a colorful construction paper monster collage that reinforces shapes, symmetry, and color balance on TpT. The lesson is based on the book by Ed Emberley, Go Away Big Green Monster. I created an animated version of his story to introduce this lesson (see above).  This project was perfect for my first graders but would probably work anywhere between pre-K and 2nd grades.

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Digital Lesson Extensions:

Filtered in the percolator app

When students were finished with their monster collages I gave them the iPads. We photographed them using Percolator app and played with their fun filters. These pieces were uploaded to their online art galleries on Artsonia. I knew they were a big hit when they started showing up on student's t-shirts in art class a few weeks later. Below is another digital extension where students can build a monster completely on the iPad using the Create a Monster HD app.

T-Shirt purchased from Artsonia

Finished art was put in the Percolator app for these abstracted results. Click image to view students' gallery

This app is a natural digital extension since it is designed to create a digital monster collage