Monsters: 3rd Grade

In this unit, students are to create their own monsters based off of overcoming fears. In
lesson one, the students watch a book about fear/monsters and we have a class discussion
covering fear and ways to overcome it. We also talk about how its okay to show that you're
afraid and experience fear. The students did really well with this ortion. They understood the
content and were so engaged that most classes went over on time with discussion. I made an
“in the moment” decision to continue to listen because of this intense engagement and thought.
I thought that having a good class discussion and running over on time was more important than
sticking to a schedule created before being taught. The next section was to fill out a worksheet
describing their own fears and how their monster would help them “combat” those fears. They
then created a rough sketch of what their monster would look like. I tried to warn them about
needed to create simple shapes because sewing is a challenging concept to pick up on at first,
but they still tended to create complex structures and extremely skinny portions. I adjusted my
teaching strategy to give a step by step demo and explanation, showing them that when sewing
they will be reducing the size of the creation by about a centimeter and how it would still need
stuffing to fit through even the thinnest of sections. After these adjustments, the students were
able create adequate designs and templates for their projects.
The next lesson is to create a template and sew their monsters. This section i’ve
struggled with. Many of the students need one on one instruction which is a challenge for me
alone. I have adjusted this by preparing the sewing supplies before hand, and having students
teach other students if they are grasping the concept. The students really seem to enjoy helping
and receiving help from one another. This project also seems to be a little challenging for the
students but they have been excited enough about the outcome to stay persistent, engaged and
intent on figuring out how to learn to sew.
Overall I think reteaching this, I would make adjustments by having an older grade level
such as 4th or 5th do this project. The 5th graders who have helped out during their free periods
are extremely engaged with the lesson and wish that they were the ones able to do this, so I
know its not outside of their interest.