Friday, September 26, 2014

“Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day” curriculum guide

I have written two books called Vocabulary Cartoon of the Day, both for Scholastic; one for grades 2-3, the other for grades 4-6, the latter drawn by me, the former by major mensch Mike Moran



Ideas for using these books—and single-panel cartoons in general—in teaching (most adjustable for any grade from 2 up):

  • caption multiple choice—Copy various cartoons and cut off the captions. Show students each cartoon and a choice of captions (you can sneak in some dummy captions, too); ask students to determine which caption fits which cartoon. It will be interesting to see if any captions could fit with more than one cartoon. You can also make multiple sets, divide the class into teams, and make it a race.
  • vocabulary word multiple choice—Copy various cartoons and blank out the vocabulary words. Show students each cartoon and a choice of vocabulary words (you can sneak in some dummy words, too); ask students to determine which word fits which cartoon. You can also make multiple sets, divide the class into teams, and make it a race.
  • vocabulary word fill-in-the-blank—Copy various cartoons and blank out the vocabulary words. Show students each cartoon and ask them to guess (based on context clues) the approximate meaning of the missing word—or maybe even the word itself; in doing so, they will either get it right or learn a new word.
  • write a caption around different words—Assign each student a different vocabulary word around which to write/draw a cartoon. Alternate 1: ask them to make note of the next unfamiliar word they encounter while reading and build a cartoon around that. Alternate 2: ask them to close their eyes, open the dictionary, randomly point to a word, and build a cartoon around that.
  • write a caption around one vocabulary word—Give the whole class a word around which to write/draw a cartoon. Despite the same starting point, they will produce a notable diversity of ideas.
  • caption/art fill-in-the-blank—Copy various cartoons; with some, blank out the caption and with others, blank out the art. Ask students to fill in the blanks, whether it’s a funny caption to go with art or art to go with a funny caption.
  • cartoon detective—Show students various cartoons. Ask them to determine which kind of cartoon each one is—one in which all the humor is in the caption or one in which you need both text and art to make it funny?
  • find the funny—Show students various cartoons (single-panel or comic strip) and ask them to identify where exactly the caption and/or art gets funny.
  • next panel—Ask students to create the next panel for any of my cartoons; add another layer by asking for their panel to incorporate a vocabulary word from another cartoon in the book.
  • rewrite my captions—Ask students to come up with alternate, fitting captions for any of my cartoons. You could first show them the caption I used, or you could show them only the art—that way, maybe some will come up with a caption similar to mine!
  • cartoon switcheroo—Ask half the students in the class to write a funny caption, half to draw a funny picture. Without notice, collect and randomly redistribute the half-cartoons; ask each student to complete the one they get.
  • synonym switchout—Show students a multiple choice of synonyms for the vocabulary words in various cartoons and ask them to eliminate the one that is not a synonym.

Please share any other ideas you have and I may add them here!

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