I'm Done, Now What?

We all have students who are done early and need engaging activities to keep them interested instead of busy work. Usually my students are able to pick activities from the "Must Do"/"May Do" board. However, once in a while I like to switch it up. This particular activity is something all of my students had a lot of fun with !

In my classroom, I always have a container of recyclables such as : toilet paper rolls, color paper, ribbon, bottles, and other recyclables students bring in and I collect throughout the year. I knew that we had a persuasive essay coming up. Therefore, I asked all of my students to work on the following any time they were done early:

-Draw a sketch of a monster you can build out of recyclables in the box
-Make a list of supplies you will need
-Describe 5 qualities of your monster and why someone should buy him

Here are the exact directions :

Any time my students would finish an assignment early, they had the opportunity to work on their monsters. They were allowed to work on the monsters in class and at home. The monsters were NOT required, but an option students had. The plan itself was required. The following week, we discussed structure of a 5 paragraph essay and my students were asked to write an essay convincing their audience ( they had to pick their audience; at the time we were also learning about author's purpose) to buy their monsters. After the essays were finished, students presented them as well as their monsters to the class.

Here are a few of the monsters.

Here is my persuasive essay rubric.

After the presentations, students wrote a reflection explaining which monster they were most likely interested in buying and why. They also commented on the presentations in the following manner:

3 students were picked to comment on each presentation. One would say what he/she liked about the presentation (Example: I like how you projected loudly and clearly). After this a student would tell the speaker something he/she can work on (Example: Next time, it would be easier to hear you if you look at the audience). Finally, another student would say something they enjoyed about the presentation. Any time we do presentations in class, my students work on giving constructive feedback to the presenter.