Monstrous masks

Teacher will read the book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. Children will create monster masks to associate the letter m and the phonemic sound of m to the masks.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Arts

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Related topics

• Learn more about Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are, crafts, journaling, language arts, pre-reading strategies, print awareness, and read-alouds.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• practice concepts of print for the North Carolina state assessment.
• recognize and write the lower and capitilized letter m.
• make their own mask for visual representation of the letter m.
• associate monster masks with the phonemic sound of m.
• write in their journals on a free choice m topic, the book Where the Wild Things Are or the masks they created.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1.5 hours

Materials/resources

• book Where the Wild Things Are
• journals
• pencils
• crayons
• paper plates
• tongue depressors
• glitter
• sequins
• feathers
• markers
• buttons
• yarn
• glue
• scissors
• any material that could be used for making masks

Pre-activities

Teacher will read the story Where the Wild Things Are to introduce the letter m.

Activities

1. Teacher will read the book Where the Wild Things Are in a large group setting.
2. Teacher will reinforce the concepts of print by asking questions related to the book.
   • Who is Maurice Sendak?
   • Show me the front or back of book?
   • Where do I start reading?
   • What do I find at the end of a sentence?
   • What is the title or dedication page?

   These questions can be asked before, during, or at the end of the story.

3. The children then split into three groups with each group having a 25-minute time slot:
   • Group 1: works on an independent activity. This can be any activity that the children can do by themselves. It can, but does not have to be, related to the letter m.
   • Group 2 : works on designing the masks. The teacher gives each child a paper plate and tongue depressor. The tongue depressor is glued to the paper plate for a handle. The children create a mask to their preference. (I would encourage the children to be as creative as possible and not give exact directions on how to make the masks.)
   • Group 3: writes in journals. Each child must first write a capital and lowercase m ten times before beginning the journal. I then suggest to my students that they can write about the book that we just read or the mask that they will be creating. The children can write about whatever they like, though. I do not force the children to write about a particular topic. The children may write or illustrate their journals first. Midway through the journal time, if a child has not finished either the writing or illustraton, I ask the child to move onto the second part and then go back to what s/he was working on.

Assessment

• I observe the children by walking around the three groups. At the beginning of journal time for the three groups, I ask each child if s/he can name a word that sounds like monster or starts with the letter m.
• I also assess the children’s journals on a weekly basis. Each child has one day a week where s/he reads his/her journal. The child may choose to read any sentence that s/he has written but most children read the sentence/s that s/he wrote that day.
• I also give the North Carolina concept of print assessment at the midyear and end of year mark.