Lesson 02: Word Wall of Terror

• Unit: Horror and Villains
• Duration: 1h45min to 2h15min

• Cycle: 3
• Topic: ELA

To understand and consider appropriate nouns and verbs.

To increase vocabulary and improve spelling.

To create word art.

• Cross-Curricular

COMPETENCY 4 • TO USE CREATIVITY

COMPETENCY 6 • TO USE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES (ICT)

COMPETENCY 8 • TO COOPERATE WITH OTHERS

COMPETENCY 9 • TO COMMUNICATE APPROPRIATELY

• Subject Areas

COMPETENCY 3 • TO REPRESENT HER/HIS LITERACY IN DIFFERENT MEDIA

COMPETENCY 4 • TO USE LANGUAGE TO COMMUNICATE AND LEARN

Visual Arts

COMPETENCY 2 • TO PRODUCE MEDIA WORKS IN THE VISUAL ARTS

COMPETENCY 3 • TO APPRECIATE WORKS OF ART, TRADITIONAL ARTISTIC OBJECTS, MEDIA IMAGES, PERSONAL PRODUCTIONS AND THOSE OF CLASSMATES

• Essential Knowledges

TALK FOR LEARNING AND THINKING

LINGUISTIC STRUCTURES AND FEATURES

COLLABORATIVE GROUP ACTIVITIES

A blackboard/whiteboard/SMARTboard

Dictionaries

Thesauruses

Books in the Horror genre

Access to the computer lab

A colour printer – high quality paper optional

Development

Goals

2. To communicate clearly in the language of instruction, both orally and in writing, using correct grammar, in various contexts related to teaching.

3. To develop appropriate teaching/learning situations.

4. To pilot teaching/learning situations.

5. To evaluate student progress in learning the subject content and mastering the related competencies.

6. To plan, organize and supervise a class in such a way as to promote students’ learning and social development.

8. To integrate information and communications technologies (ICT) in the preparation and delivery of teaching/learning activities for instructional management and professional development purposes.

OUTLINE

TIME

ACTIVITY

Introduction

(20 min)

Ask:

“Can anyone tell me what a verb is?”

See what students say.

After several students answer, write on  the board:

A VERB is an ACTION WORD

Ask students to list some verbs.

Ask:

“Who can describe a noun to me?”

Write:

A NOUN is a PERSON, PLACE or THING

Ask for examples. Explain why some are nouns, and some may not be. Explain the difference between a NOUN and a PROPER NOUN.

Ask:

“What is an adverb?”

Write:

An ADVERB describes a VERB

Discuss examples.

Ask:

“What is an adjective?”

Write:

An ADJECTIVE describes a NOUN

Discuss examples.

Students will copy down the definitions of these words on a looseleaf for their ELA duotang (or wherever they collect their Language Arts materials).

(40 min)

Discuss the words that added to the frightening tone of the book.

Discuss how the choice of words is important in creating a tone and setting for a story.

Students will work in groups of 3-5. These can be their seating groups or they can be allowed to choose their groups. In the case of the latter, give the students 5 minutes for form groups and any groups that do not consist of 3-5 members will be readjusted by the teacher.

Groups will develop word lists (pen and paper).

The assignment will be explained and given in a handout:

Generate a horror word list.

You must brainstorm, as a group, at least:

12 nouns

12 verbs

12 adverbs

12 adjectives

The choice of words is up to your discretion.

All of the words must be useful in creating a tone appropriate for horror.

So long as you can explain why a word can be used towards this purpose, it is acceptable.

For example: Run. This word does not need to be scary, but in an appropriate context, it could be.

For the worksheet, click here.

(30 min to 1hr)

This section requires computer lab time.

Students will open their internet browser.

In the address bar, they will type:

www.tagxedo.com/

On the home page, they will see examples of the type of word art that they can generate.

Students will click on the link that says create on the top right hand side.

They will click where is says “Words—load…” on the actions bar.

They will type their words in the box called “Enter Text:”, ensuring that all words are spelled correctly. There is no spell checker. They may use dictionaries or cut and paste their list into Word to take advantage of the spell checker there. They will have previously learned how to open Word and to cut and paste.

They will select “submit”.

Using “Respin” and “Options”, they can change the aesthetics of their word art until it pleases them. For students who aren’t inspired to be creative, “All” under “Respin” will chose options for them. They can press it until they like the outcome. For those who would like more control over their art, they can chose themes, font, colour, direction, shape and aspect ratio. The easiest way to learn to use this is to play with it rather than having it explained. That is why the time allotted for this ranges from 30 to 60 minutes.

*Students should chose a white background for the printed version. They may save a version with a black or coloured background if they so chose, but they must select a white background to print!*

Students will select “as image” under “Save”. They should save it as a 4MP Jpeg. The higher quality options are unnecessary for this project.

Once saved, they will open it into the default image program. From here, they will select print->print->full page photo->print.

(15 min)

Their art will be displayed on the classroom walls.